F 22 Airplane

The House voted Thursday to deny production funding for the Air Force's F-22, the most expensive fighter ever sought by the armed services, in a move that raises broader questions about Congress' willingness to finance other high-priced weapons on the Pentagon drawing board. Despite pressure from the White House and the F-22's congressional advocates, the chamber voted, 379 to 45, for a $266-billion annual defense appropriation that would remove $1.

Lockheed Corp. is considering buying General Dynamics Corp.'s massive jet fighter division, its partner in development of the Air Force's advanced F-22 fighter, a source familiar with talks between the two companies said Tuesday. The Ft. Worth-based division accounts for about half of General Dynamics' net revenue, and analysts estimate that the unit could bring between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in a sale. General Dynamics has also talked with Seattle-based Boeing Co.

The Air Force acknowledged Tuesday that a Lockheed F-22 prototype "crashed" at Edwards Air Force Base last Saturday, reversing its original statement that the jet fighter had simply made a "forced landing." The change by the Air Force indicates that the incident was far more serious than previously indicated and involved a loss of control by the pilot.

Lockheed Martin Corp. was awarded $502 million in contracts to build the first two F-22 fighter jets, the Pentagon said. The amount awarded excludes an estimated $191-million down payment on the next six aircraft, which may come as early as this week, officials said. The Air Force plans to purchase 339 of the planes and 777 engines during the next 16 years. At an estimated cost of $187 million each, the F-22 will be the world's most expensive fighter plane when it goes into service in 2004.

The aerospace industry in Southern California lost big when the Air Force on Tuesday decided to give the $14-billion development contract for the advanced tactical fighter to a team led by Lockheed Corp. The initial impact will be in the hundreds of jobs that will be eliminated by Los Angeles-based Northrop Corp., the Lockheed team's vanquished competitor.

A prototype Lockheed F-22 jet fighter caught fire and burned extensively on the main runway at Edwards Air Force Base on Saturday after experiencing problems during a test flight by a Lockheed company pilot, who escaped with minor injuries. The Air Force said the pilot decided to make an emergency landing after the aircraft experienced "uncommanded oscillations"--meaning, apparently, that it began to vibrate--during touch-and-go landing maneuvers.

A key Pentagon panel has approved starting limited production of the U.S. Air Force's controversial F-22 jet fighter despite acknowledging that costs were exceeding projections and that fewer jets could eventually be built. The Defense Department panel, in an eagerly awaited decision, told the Air Force that it could begin initial production of 10 F-22s for $2.1 billion, but that the planned number of planes would have to be reduced to 295 from 333.

The good news for Southern California in Tuesday's announcement that a Lockheed-led team will build the nation's next fighter jet was spread rather thin. Lockheed estimates that the F-22 advanced tactical fighter project will generate 5,000 jobs for subcontractors in Southern California. But many subcontractors expect the new jobs simply to replace positions in expiring programs; the net employment gain will be far smaller, according to company spokesmen.

Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor stealth fighter was taken on its maiden test flight, spending an hour in the air at speeds up to 285 mph. "If you can fly a Cessna 150, you can fly this airplane," said test pilot Paul Metz, referring to the common civilian craft. The Air Force is scheduled to get 339 of the planes to replace the F-15C, currently its top fighter, at a cost of $43 billion.