Shares of defense contracting giant and all-around heavy industrialist General Electric (NYSE: GE) gained 2.1% through 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday -- and Bank of America may be the reason.

As analyst-watcher The Fly reported yesterday, a new report out of BofA highlights the potential for General Electric to benefit from a new Pentagon contest to build a better engine for its F-35 fighter jets. GE would be in the running for such a contract -- and could reap rich rewards if it wins.

Currently, Lockheed Martin F-35s are built with F135 engines from Raytheon Technologies. Problem is, as time has progressed these engines have been shown to suffer in the salt water environments surrounding short take-off, vertical landing (STOVL) F-35Bs and carrier-variant F-35Cs. Now the Pentagon may be looking to "re-engine" these specific flavors of F-35, says Bank of America.

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Source Fool.com