Gates Returns Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop Programs to Spend Tactic
Gates ordered restoration of $285 million in 2011 and $1.843 billion overall through 2015 on the C-130 program.
He also told the Air Force to restore $2.4 billion for an Internet-like radio that Lockheed Martin Corp. is building for aircraft and vessels.
In addition, he instructed the service to add $280 million to continue installing upgraded Pratt & Whitney engines on the Northrop Grumman Corp. Jstars surveillance plane.
Gatess order is in an unreleased document he signed Dec. 23 thats the basis for the new defense budget to be released Feb. 1.
The Air Force offered the cuts in August as part its effort to meet the Pentagons direction to cut about $24.2 billion, or about 3.8 percent, from its $632 billion five-year plan.
Defense spending since fiscal 2000, adjusted for inflation, has grown about 43 percent. When war costs are included, the number increases to 72 percent. Gates has called for modest growth going forward, with emphasis on improving the security of nuclear weapons, building capabilities to conduct irregular warfare, cyber defense and long-range strikes.
Rationale
Gatess directive means “either the services budget priorities are out of sync with those of the defense secretary or that that the proposed cancellations were advanced knowing there was little likelihood theyd be accepted,” said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst for the Lexington Institute, an Arlington, Virginia-based defense research organization.
Gates, in a move that benefits the Air Force and aircraft makers such as B-2 bomber contractor Northrop Grumman, told the service to add a total of $1.6 billion to its budget through 2015 to support industry efforts for a new bomber program that would begin in 2013.
Air Force spokesman Vincent King said the service will have no comment on the fiscal 2011 plan until it is announced next month.
Randy Belote, spokesman for Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman, said the company hasnt been officially notified of the status of the Jstar engine program.
C-130 Upgrade
Gates may be supporting the C-130 program because the Army and Marine Corps have become “heavily dependent on those propeller-driven airlifters in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Thompson said. “So installing up-to-date communications and navigation equipment is necessary to assure the safety and success of U.S. warfighters.”
The C-130 Hercules is the worlds most widely used short- and medium-range transport with over 2,200 built since the 1950s.
The Air Force has about 427, including newer model C-103Js, which have the upgraded cockpit electronics. The plane is used in all military theaters including Iraq and Afghanistan.
The program to install 221 upgrade kits on older C-130s was to run through 2017. Congress has approved $1.7 billion for the program, and Boeing is producing the first 22 kits. The C-130 upgrade program has seen cost growth that pushed it to $5.8 billion from $4.1 billion.
Boeing Comment
Jennifer Hogan, spokeswoman for Chicago-based Boeing, said the company has “not received any official word on the status” of the C-130 program. The company has about 130 employees working the program in Long Beach, California, San Antonio, Fort Walton Beach, Florida and St. Louis, she said.