F 15 Airplane

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles filed a civil fraud suit against Hughes Aircraft Co. Monday, charging the defense contractor lied about the cost of spare parts used in the F-15 fighter jet's radar. During contract negotiations in 1982, Hughes told the government that an F-15 radar electronic component known as a Grade C Field Effect Transistor would cost the company $663, and the government paid that amount.

McDonnell Douglas Corp., its subcontractors and unions have joined together to put pressure on the U.S. government to approve the sale of 72 F-15 jet fighters to Saudi Arabia. "Who needs 40,000 highly skilled jobs? We do!" reads an advertisement the group began running Thursday in three Capitol Hill publications.

The Israeli government on Sunday protested the Bush Administration's plans to sell 72 high-performance F-15XP warplanes to Saudi Arabia and said it will insist that the United States honor its longstanding commitment to maintain Israel's qualitative military edge in the Middle East.

Despite the destruction of 33 Iraqi aircraft in the Gulf War so far, only a few of the engagements have involved the close and complex aerial combat that characterizes dogfights. Many of the other enemy craft have been downed without the elaborate maneuvering that is associated with Top Gun-type flying. In one of the first dogfights of the war, U.S. F-15 pilot Capt. Steve Tate locked in on an Iraqi F-1 Mirage that was on the tail of another U.S. F-15.

The Air Force understated its cost on the B-1 bomber by $7.5 billion and on two other aircraft programs by an additional $18 billion, according to a draft General Accounting Office report that found that the Air Force's accounting practices have "significant internal control weaknesses." The GAO disclosed, for example, that when the Air Force Space Division in Los Angeles found a $2.

A U.S. sale of the advanced version of F-15 fighter planes to Saudi Arabia would provide at least a modest boost to some defense contractors, particularly ailing St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas, which has said it will eliminate 17,000 jobs this year. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney is expected to work out details of the sale, involving 24 F-15 Eagles, during his current visit to Saudi Arabia.

Boeing Co.'s recovery from two years of financial troubles suffered a setback Thursday as the aerospace company said a decline in orders for its F-15 fighter plane will force the elimination of 6,500 to 7,000 jobs. The job cuts will all take place at the company's massive St. Louis manufacturing operation and will represent about 35% of the work force there. The cuts will come from the ranks of management and union members and are expected to be completed by mid-2001.

The United States has sold Saudi Arabia 12 F-15C fighter-bombers based in West Germany, a U.S. Air Force spokeswoman said Thursday. The planes, currently stationed at the U.S. base at Bitburg, will be flown in the next few days to the Persian Gulf region and handed over to Saudi crews, Lydie Hengen of the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing said. She declined to give further details of the sale, saying only that the deal was made in anticipation of a possible deterioration in the situation in the gulf.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney flew to Saudi Arabia on Friday prepared to negotiate agreements under which the United States would for the first time supply Saudi Arabia with the most sophisticated version of the F-15 attack fighter plane and drastically expand the stockpiles of U.S. military equipment permanently positioned in the oil-rich desert kingdom.