Soaring into the 21st century;$93 billion ensures air superiority

  Juan J. Walte;John Schneidawind

  04/24/1991

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 01A

  (Copyright 1991)

 

  History's richest aerospace contest came down to cost and subtle performance

  differences between two equally lethal killing machines.

 

  In picking a Lockheed Corp. team to build its jet fighter of the future, the Air

  Force Tuesday settled on the low bidder with proven success in stealth

  technology.

 

  The award - worth up to $93 billion by the time 648 planes are flying in 2014 -

  was a winner-take-all shootout for the last big defense contract of the century.

  Congressional funding fights are a virtual certainty, given shrinking defense

  budgets and embattled weapons programs.

 

  Critics complain the jet is technological overkill in an era of warming

  superpower relations. The Congressional Budget Office concludes the Air Force

  simply can't afford it. But nobody disputes the superagile, supercruising,

  radar-evading ATF - advanced tactical fighter - will ensure U.S. military air

  superiority in future conflicts.

 

  ``It's like being a batter in a game and you've got some kind of batting average,''

  says Capt. Rollie ``Dude'' Smith, an Air Force F-15C pilot who flew 32 combat

  sorties in the gulf war. ``Now get a bigger bat and see what happens.''

 

  Says Air Force Lt. Kevin ``Hollywood'' Robbins, an F-15C pilot who flew 30

  gulf combat sorties: ``The next time, the air war might be a lot different. We'll be

  fighting aircraft at least as good as the F-15 is now. I know how good that is and

  I know I want something better.''

 

  This is supposed to be a ``first look, first kill'' jet. Its lone pilot will be able to

  target and shoot down an enemy plane before the enemy pilot has a clue he's in

  danger. The ATF can fly faster at higher altitudes and make tighter turns at

  supersonic speeds than anything else in the sky.

 

  Its supercruise capability allows it to fly up to Mach 2, or 1,320 mph, without

  using its afterburners. The F-15 it replaces can fly as fast but only when the pilot

  kicks in fuel-guzzling afterburners, which lower range and heighten the jet's

  radar signature.

 

  The new jet - dubbed ``Lightning'' - is the first to combine high performance with

  stealth. Lockheed's F-117A Stealth fighter, stunningly successful in the gulf war,

  is slow and bulky by comparison.

 

  The ATF makes use of advanced ``low observables'' - design features that foil

  radar such as burying engines deep in the fuselage, storing missiles inside for

  cleaner aerodynamics and using lightweight composites in manufacturing.

 

  The pilot can fly Lightning at an angle, belly into the wind - like a horse rearing

  on hind legs. When an enemy pilot turns to avoid it, the ATF can turn inside that

  enemy turn, a huge air-to-air combat advantage.

 

  The jet's avionics - its navigation and weapons electronics - are state of the art:

  fiber optics to transfer data, advanced controls that'll help the pilot handle and

  fire a wide range of smart missiles. The plane works more and the pilot works

  less.

 

  Says Robbins: ``If you can go faster while using less fuel, then that's a real

  advantage because you're able to keep your speed up ... and not use as much

  gas.''

 

  The ATF was all the more coveted at a time when the Pentagon has terminated

  or reduced major contract awards to help trim the federal budget deficit. In

  January, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney canceled the A-12 Stealth fighter

  because of huge cost overruns, forcing defense firms nationwide into layoffs.

 

  Analysts agreed with the Air Force assessment that both prototypes are worthy.

 

  ``I don't think you could have gone wrong with either one,'' says retired Air

  Force Lt. Gen. Lloyd Leavitt. ``It's probably better ... for the aviation industry to

  keep Lockheed and General Dynamics going and at the same time keep the B-2

  (Stealth bomber) program going with Northrop.''

 

  Lawrence Korb, an assistant Defense secretary during the Reagan years, says,

  ``What you had to go on was the recent performance of the companies. The three

  that won have much better cash flow positions.''

 

  McDonnell Douglas, Korb says, has had problems with the C-17, a new cargo

  plane the Air Force wants, and recently had its new A-12 Navy fighter canceled.

  Northrop ``had all kinds of difficulties'' with the MX, the USA's newest

  long-range strategic nuclear-tipped missile.

 

  Lockheed, partners Boeing and General Dynamics and 26 subcontractors

  nationwide stand to prosper. Losers Northrop and McDonnell Douglas will

  retrench. Minutes after Air Force Secretary Donald Rice announced the winner,

  McDonnell Douglas said it would lay off 500 employees by year-end.

 

  The Lockheed win means an economic boost for Marietta, Ga., where the ATF

  will be built. Workers watching on TV let out a huge roar at Rice's

  announcement.

 

  ``My stomach had been turning for two days. It's not over until it's over,'' says

  Frank Fanto, deputy director of manufacturing for the ATF program. ``We've

  been known for transportation aircraft but we are going to be building the most

  sophisticated aircraft in the business.''

 

  Mark Hazlitt, a Lockheed production worker for eight years, says, ``A lot of

  people will be relieved. This will mean retirement without having to worry about

  being laid off.''

 

  Through the 1970s and 1980s, Lockheed built the huge C-5A transport aircraft in

  Marietta and employed up to 31,000 people. But when that program was

  completed in 1989, Lockheed employment at the plant dropped to 9,000 people.

 

  The company expects to hire several hundred professional engineers in the next

  two months and by 1994 up to 2,000 more in Marietta.

 

  Other areas will benefit. Lockheed's Sanders Associates subsidiary in Nashua,

  N.H., will make the ATF's electronic warfare system and cockpit display. The

  firm makes electronic components for 200 defense programs, but its employment

  had dwindled to 5,000 from 6,200 in 1990, including 600 workers laid off last

  year because of spending cuts.

 

  In West Palm Beach, Fla., the Pratt & Whitney division of United Technologies

  Corp. will develop the ATF engine. Pratt employs 7,500 people in West Palm. If

  the company had lost the engine contract, 1,500 employees would have lost jobs.

 

  Across the country in Northrop's plant in Pico Rivera, Calif., was disappointment

  and uncertainty. ``I didn't plan for this,'' says security specialist Anna Martinez,

  29. ``This means I'll be unemployed.''

 

  F-15 pilot Smith figures he'll be a senior pilot by the time the jet's operational.

  Meantime, he's fantasizing: ``I'd love to fly one. I think everybody would - it's

  like buying a new car and you can't wait to test-drive it.''

 

  Contributing: Judy Keen, Jonathan T. Lovitt and Tom Watson

  GRAPHIC;color,Marty Baumann;Sam Ward, USA TODAY ,Source:Jane's All

  The World Aircraft,John Tirpak(Aerospace Daily), USA TODAY research