Version of JSF may be spared

By DAVE MONTGOMERY

STAR-TELEGRAM WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - WASHINGTON -- Senior Pentagon planners appear to be backing away from drastic cuts in Lockheed Martin's joint strike fighter as they near completion of a sweeping internal review to reshape military spending priorities over the next two decades.

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, in an interview with Bloomberg News, said Pentagon budget-cutters are leaning against a proposal to eliminate one of three versions of the next-generation warplane after concluding that the cost savings would be minimal.

Wynne, however, stressed that the decision isn't final, and supporters of major North Texas weapons programs remain apprehensive as they await the conclusions of the quadrennial defense review headed by Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, a former Fort Worth aerospace executive.

Spending recommendations tied to the review may emerge early next week. England has ordered the military services to reduce spending by $32 billion over the next five years, raising fears that some of the cuts could fall on the multibillion-dollar defense industry in North Texas.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he is braced for "some significant cuts" but vowed to fight against scaling back programs such as the joint strike fighter or the F/A-22, another flagship project for Fort Worth-based Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

Defense analyst Loren Thompson, citing proposed budget decisions circulating in the Pentagon, said planners are unlikely to make serious changes in either of the two Lockheed programs, although the joint strike fighter could sustain reductions in the future.

Another top-priority project for North Texas -- the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey -- is also likely to stay intact, Thompson said.

Senior Pentagon planners are expected to recommend capping the total number of F/A-22s at about 180, Thompson said, approximating the number in the Bush administration's five-year plan for defense spending.

The recommendation would essentially constitute middle ground, falling far short of the 381 sought by the Air Force but sparing the $64 billion program from deeper cuts or immediate cancellation.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier called for halting F/A-22 purchases after the 2008 fiscal year, but the impending recommendation would extend procurement through 2010 to allow Lockheed a smoother transition toward full-scale production of the joint strike fighter.

Although the F/A-22 recommendation wouldn't be as draconian as feared, congressional supporters of the program are likely to fight for increased production and a longer life span for the stealth fighter.

"The Air Force doesn't consider that a win," said Christopher Helman, a military analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "That's a loss."

Tom Jurkowski, a spokesman at Lockheed Martin's corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Md., said it would be inappropriate to comment on the recommendations until they become official. "We have not been notified of any changes to our programs," Jurkowski said.

Although England's review team, dubbed "the Group of 12," essentially wrapped up its major decisions more than a week ago, midlevel Pentagon officials stress that the planners could still make significant changes. The planners continued to meet this week and were reportedly notifying the services of their decisions.

Thompson, a defense industry consultant at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., said the apparent decision against eliminating the Air Force version of the joint strike fighter constitutes a major victory for the $255 billion aircraft program, the Pentagon's costliest project.

England's team had considered halting development of the conventional takeoff version of the F-35 to save money and to have the Air Force buy the Navy's version, a beefier, larger-wing model designed for carrier landings. The Marine Corps plans to use a third version -- a so-called jump jet that can make short takeoffs and vertical landings.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics envisions the joint strike fighter as the key to its long-term future, with plans to build a total of 2,443 planes over more than two decades. The Air Force currently plans to buy 1,763 conventional takeoff models, but Thompson said the service's total purchase could fall to about 1,100 under the emerging Pentagon recommendations.

More than 4,000 workers work on the joint strike fighter at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth plant, and an additional 1,500 employees are assigned to work on the center fuselage for the F/A-22. Dallas-based Vought Aircraft Industries is a major subcontractor for the F/A-22.

Thompson and other analysts predicted that the Pentagon review will keep the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey on track, continuing its robust turnaround after a rocky period caused by two crashes in 2000.

The tilt-rotor aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane, recently won approval from the Pentagon for full-rate production. More than 2,500 employees at Bell's Fort Worth-area plants manufacture major components for the V-22. Ospreys are assembled at a Bell plant in Amarillo.

"It's fair to say that the Osprey is going to survive the QDR just fine," Helman said. "That program has turned the corner."

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Dave Montgomery, (202) 383-6016 [email protected]

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