F 16

Lockheed Martin Corp. and federal officials have been talking with Saudi Arabia about selling the desert kingdom several billion dollars' worth of F-16 fighter planes, officials said yesterday.One source familiar with the arrangement said Saudi Arabia had reached a tentative agreement to buy up to 100 planes.The Washington Times reported such a deal yesterday and quoted a price of $30 billion, a price that the source questioned, saying it "sounds awfully high."Officials at the State Department, the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin cautioned that no formal agreement had been reached.

WASHINGTON -- As tensions flare in the Middle East and the United States rushes weapons to both Israel and Saudi Arabia, a significant arms sale to another potential hot spot is being overshadowed. The United States is close to concluding a $5 billion sale of advanced U.S. F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, a transfer that, given the current situation in Pakistan and the entire subregion, is ill-advised and particularly troublesome. Pakistan has been trying to get F-16s from the United States for years.

Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $3.5 billion contest to build fighter jets for the Polish air force yesterday, assuring that production of its popular but aging F-16 warplane will continue beyond 2010. Polish Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski announced that Poland will buy 48 of Lockheed Martin's F-16s to replace its Soviet-era fleet of MiG-21s and MiG-29s. He credited the F-16's technical capabilities, its compatibility with other NATO air forces, and economic incentives offered by Lockheed Martin as the key factors in the decision.

WASHINGTON - In a major policy shift, the United States announced yesterday that it will sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, rewarding an ally but angering its neighbor and rival, India. Noting their gratitude for Pakistan's help against Islamic militants, U.S. officials said they will sell at least 24 of the fighters in a package of aircraft and maintenance services worth about $1.5 billion. President Bush telephoned Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, to explain the move.

The Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates negotiated for nearly two years before deciding over the weekend to buy $6.4 billion worth of F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp, but reaction came quickly back in the United States yesterday. The contract was called a blessing for Maryland's work force, which will grow by at least 150 workers as the new aircraft are developed. And at the New York Stock Exchange, traders boosted the value of Lockheed's shares by 6 percent. But some analysts said Sunday's contract could have more lasting reverberations for Lockheed Martin.

Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp. announced yesterday that it has reached a preliminary agreement to sell at least 50 F-16 fighter planes to Greece in a transaction valued at a total of $2 billion.Greece selected the F-16 Fighting Falcon over the F-15 Eagle, made by Boeing Co., after a long and intense evaluation, said Joseph Stout, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin."Greece has selected the plane and said it wants to buy it, but the transaction must first be approved by Congress," Stout said.

Delivering some much-needed good news to Lockheed Martin Corp., the government of Israel agreed yesterday to buy 50 F-16 fighter planes in a package worth about $2.5 billion.Israel chose the versatile jets over the more powerful and more expensive F-15, which is built by Boeing Co.The deal had been expected for several months, but the announcement was delayed by the change of government in Israel caused by the election of Prime Minister Ehud Barak."This was another hard-fought competition that reaffirms the F-16 as the multi-role fighter of choice for the world's most discriminating air forces," said Dain Hancock, president of the Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems plant in Fort Worth, Texas, where the planes are built.

The United Arab Emirates will announce today that it plans to buy up to 80 F-16 fighter planes from Lockheed Martin Corp. in a deal valued at between $6 billion and $8 billion, sources said yesterday.The order would boost more than sales for the Bethesda defense contractor.It would assert U.S. dominance of the global warplane market, certify Lockheed Martin's position as the world's leading supplier of midrange fighter jets and keep the F-16 production line in Fort Worth, Texas, humming into the next century.

Lockheed Martin Corp. appears to have won a fierce and protracted competition to build a fleet of 48 fighter jets for the Polish air force, a $3.5 billion affirmation of the military and political firepower still wielded by one of the company's oldest and most lucrative products - the F-16 Fighting Falcon. A formal announcement from Warsaw is not expected until today, and Lockheed Martin officials said they have received no word from the Polish government. But the chief executive of Dassault Aviation SA, another contender, said on French radio yesterday that Lockheed Martin has been selected.

WASHINGTON - In a major policy shift, the United States announced yesterday that it will sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, rewarding an ally but angering its neighbor and rival, India. Noting their gratitude for Pakistan's help against Islamic militants, U.S. officials said they will sell at least 24 of the fighters in a package of aircraft and maintenance services worth about $1.5 billion. President Bush telephoned Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, to explain the move.

U.S. dollars wooed ally in Iraq coalitionAs the Bush administration scrambled last year to pull together a "coalition of the willing" to wage a war in Iraq, it simultaneously negotiated and financed an unprecedented multibillion-dollar arms deal with Poland - a compact that promises to funnel at least $6 billion in U.S. investments into the former Warsaw Pact nation, which has become one of the United States' primary wartime supporters. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have criticized Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in recent days for suggesting that the administration used financial inducements to assemble its coalition, calling his comments an insult to a country like Poland, which dispatched 2,500 troops to fight alongside Americans in Iraq.

Two military F-16s were called to escort a Northwest Airlines plane into Baltimore-Washington International Airport yesterday after the pilot told air traffic controllers that three passengers were acting unruly, officials said. Federal authorities detained the three men for about three hours before determining their stories checked out and they posed no threat. Law enforcement sources described them as being of Middle Eastern descent. Their names were not released. "There were no threats of violence, no threats to the flight attendant," said Special Agent Barry A. Maddox, a spokesman for the FBIs field office in Baltimore.

Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $3.5 billion contest to build fighter jets for the Polish air force yesterday, assuring that production of its popular but aging F-16 warplane will continue beyond 2010. Polish Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski announced that Poland will buy 48 of Lockheed Martin's F-16s to replace its Soviet-era fleet of MiG-21s and MiG-29s. He credited the F-16's technical capabilities, its compatibility with other NATO air forces, and economic incentives offered by Lockheed Martin as the key factors in the decision.

Lockheed Martin Corp. appears to have won a fierce and protracted competition to build a fleet of 48 fighter jets for the Polish air force, a $3.5 billion affirmation of the military and political firepower still wielded by one of the company's oldest and most lucrative products - the F-16 Fighting Falcon. A formal announcement from Warsaw is not expected until today, and Lockheed Martin officials said they have received no word from the Polish government. But the chief executive of Dassault Aviation SA, another contender, said on French radio yesterday that Lockheed Martin has been selected.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has rejected Pakistan's request to release a fleet of F-16 jet fighters that it bought in the 1980s, U.S. officials said yesterday, adding that the United States wanted to avoid destabilizing relations in South Asia. In an interview Saturday, the president of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said transferring the fighters would be an important symbolic gesture of U.S. gratitude for his nation's strong support in the war in Afghanistan. Pakistan purchased 28 F-16s in the 1980s, but their delivery was blocked when Congress cut off all aid and military sales in 1990, citing Pakistan's secret development of nuclear weapons.

Lockheed Martin Corp. announced yesterday that its first-quarter profit nearly doubled even as sales declined, suggesting that the company's recent cost-cutting campaign is paying off. The Bethesda-based defense giant built fewer F-16 fighter jets and C-130J transport planes in the first three months of 2001 than it did in the first quarter last year. It also launched fewer rockets and built fewer commercial satellites. Net sales in the past quarter dropped 10 percent to $5 billion. Still, net income in the quarter rose from $54 million last year, or 14 cents per share, to $105 million in 2001, or 25 cents per share.

Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp. expects to take a fourth-quarter charge of as much as $400 million to change the way it accounts for development costs, analysts said yesterday.Lockheed Martin also told analysts and investors that its planned $8 billion sale of F-16 fighters to the United Arab Emirates may slip into next year.The two items will affect fourth-quarter results, with the charge reducing net income and the delayed sale of F-16 fighters hurting revenue and earnings. Analyst Byron Callan of Merrill Lynch & Co. cut his rating on the stock to near-term "accumulate" from near-term "buy."

Two former top officials of Nurad Inc. of Baltimore were sentenced to federal prison yesterday after pleading guilty to filing false statements that antennas they manufactured for the F-16 jet fighter met Air Force specifications."

There was a Toys R Us across the street, but all the kids were lined up outside Annapolis Mall yesterday for the newest toy in town: the U.S. Air Force Experience. Who could blame them? A real F-16 Fighting Falcon on display in the parking lot lured them to the high-tech recruiting exhibition that rolled into this Navy town Tuesday. Inside the huge trailer, the show aimed for its audience with giant video screen presentations, computer kiosks and a fleet of F-16 flight simulators that dared them to pilot a high-speed virtual mission.