Fighter Planes

Score a win for the local Westinghouse Electric Corp. division in the latest round of the fight over its production of a multibillion-dollar electronic radar jammer designed to protect fighter planes and their pilots.Westinghouse held a lunchtime rally yesterday at its Linthicum complex to allow company executives and about 500 workers to express their appreciation to U.S. Sens. Paul S. Sarbanes and Barbara A. Mikulski for warding off legislation that would have spiked about $400 million of impending orders for the system, thus preserving 200 jobs.

Herman G. "Hank" Tillman Jr., a retired Air Force colonel and pilot who flew in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and was one of Maryland's most decorated veterans, died Sunday of liver failure at his Chester home. He was 89. He was born in his immigrant grandparents' Anne Arundel County farmhouse, and later moved with his family to a home at Pontiac Avenue and Sixth Street in Brooklyn. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute in 1940, he attended the Johns Hopkins University at night and worked at Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s engineering department during the day. "As a kid, he was fascinated with flying.

AAI Corp. has been awarded a military contract to develop an improved system for aligning weapons on fighter planes and helicopters and increasing pilots' chances of hitting targets, the Cockeysville company announced yesterday.The development work gives AAI "a leg up on the competition" for a full-scale production contract for 500 or more electronic units that could total more than $100 million, said Frederick J. Jaklitsch, an operations manager at the Baltimore County defense contractor.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A senior Iranian military official said yesterday that his country had drawn up plans to launch airstrikes against Israel in case of war between the two countries, according to an interview published by an Iranian news agency. Gen. Mohammed Alavi, a deputy commander in the Iranian air force, told the semi-official Fars News Agency that his country could attack Israel with long-range missiles as well as fighter planes in case of war between the two countries.

The Congressional Budget Office will release a report today that finds "major problems" with the Pentagon's plan to modernize its fleet of fighter planes, sources said.The tactical aviation report was requested by Rep. Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican and key member of the House National Security Committee who has been a critic of costly plans to buy new fighter planes.Weldon has scheduled a 9: 30 a.m. news conference to discuss the report.The study will show that the effort to modernize the national arsenal by buying F/A-18E/F, F-22 and Joint Strike Fighter planes is "not going to be affordable in its current form," said one source familiar with the report.

Lockheed Martin Corp. reported yesterday that its profit tripled in the second quarter, despite fewer sales of fighter planes, rockets and other of its signature products. The Bethesda-based defense giant also said it expects income growth to continue, predicting an earnings increase of 30 percent to 35 percent for the year. "They've done what they said they would do - reduce debt, divest divisions - and it has worked," said Paul H. Nisbet, an aerospace analyst for JSA Research Inc. Lockheed Martin earned $144 million, or 33 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared with $42 million, or 11 cents a share, posted for the second quarter of 2000.

Westinghouse Electric Corp.'s local division has received a $195.6 million order for 157 radar units to be used on F-16 fighter planes, the Department of Defense announced yesterday.The radars will be installed on planes being purchased by Taiwan.The announcement is more good news for Maryland's battered defense industry, coming a day after Martin Marietta Corp.'s Middle River plant received a $298 million contract to build rocket launchers for the Navy.Yesterday's contract stems from a 1992 decision by President George Bush to authorize a $6 billion sale of 150 F-16 jet fighters to Taiwan.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A senior Iranian military official said yesterday that his country had drawn up plans to launch airstrikes against Israel in case of war between the two countries, according to an interview published by an Iranian news agency. Gen. Mohammed Alavi, a deputy commander in the Iranian air force, told the semi-official Fars News Agency that his country could attack Israel with long-range missiles as well as fighter planes in case of war between the two countries.

AAI Corp. brought home what the company officials called "a must-win contract" last week when the Cockeysville company was selected by the Air Force to develop and manufacture a system to test the electronic warfare equipment on the F-15 and F-18 fighter planes."

New orders for such things as rocket launchers for use on ships, radars for F-16 fighter planes, communication equipment and Beretta handguns pushed Defense Department spending in Maryland up 13 percent, to $4.38 billion, in the last fiscal year, according to a new Pentagon study.Maryland moved back into ninth place on the Pentagon's list of the states receiving the highest dollar value of prime contract work. During fiscal 1989, military spending in the state dropped 9.4 percent, to $3.87, billion and Maryland fell to No. 10 on the list.

NAVAL AIR STATION OCEANA, Va. -- When Navy Lt. Cmdr. David "Supafly" Faehnle flipped on the engines of his F-14 Tomcat, the 2,000 or so people sitting nearby jumped to their feet. Some trotted across the flight line to get closer to what has been the Navy's premier jet fighter. A few held up their digital cameras, using the zoom tool as they would binoculars to get a better look. They all watched as the canopy closed, sealing in Faehnle and his radar intercept officer, Lt. Cmdr. Robert "Fitz" Gentry.

WASHINGTON - The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is expected to offer sharp criticism of the Pentagon's domestic air-defense command in the panel's final report. They will suggest that quicker military action on that morning might have prevented a hijacked passenger jet from crashing into the Pentagon according to commission officials. The performance of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, and its failure to protect Washington and New York City from attack on Sept.

WITH THE U.S. MARINES, Iraq - The sign along this desolate stretch of highway is bright blue. The lettering that spells "Baghdad" in both Arabic and English is white and clear. The traffic arrow on the sign points north. For the Marines, it was a sight that brought a few cheers, some relief and new fears. Baghdad is now just a short distance away. They had traveled more than 200 miles since leaving Kuwait one week ago. While going such a distance by car is not significant, for the Marines - a military force traditionally used near shore, not so far inland - this was a historic achievement.

Wings from Texas will make the Pentagon's new jet fighter fly. A fan from Indiana will make it hover. An engine from Connecticut will take it supersonic, while a tail from England keeps it straight. And just south of Baltimore, inside the off-ramp industrial campus of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems sector, a team of engineers will teach the Joint Strike Fighter how to see and hear. The former Westinghouse plant in Linthicum is already one of the nation's leading designers and manufacturers of airborne military electronics.

As the Pentagon prepares to pick a sole winner in its $300 billion contest to design and build the nation's newest jet fighter, some members of Congress are renewing the call for multiple winners instead, saying the United States must preserve its defense industry now more than ever. The Department of Defense is sticking with its winner-take-all strategy as it prepares to announce Oct. 26 whether Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda or Boeing Co. will build the Joint Strike Fighter, a multiservice jet fighter.

Lockheed Martin Corp. reported yesterday that its profit tripled in the second quarter, despite fewer sales of fighter planes, rockets and other of its signature products. The Bethesda-based defense giant also said it expects income growth to continue, predicting an earnings increase of 30 percent to 35 percent for the year. "They've done what they said they would do - reduce debt, divest divisions - and it has worked," said Paul H. Nisbet, an aerospace analyst for JSA Research Inc. Lockheed Martin earned $144 million, or 33 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared with $42 million, or 11 cents a share, posted for the second quarter of 2000.

Westinghouse Electric Corp. has eliminated about 1,000 jobs in Maryland over the past three years, but the company's top management said yesterday that employment is expected to remain stable here for the next five years despite signs of a recession and an anticipated reduction in defense spending.The outlook for the company's Electronic Systems Group, based near Baltimore/Washington International Airport, is "quite good," Paul E. Lego, Westinghouse's chairman and chief executive, said during a visit to Baltimore.

The nation's biggest defense contractor yesterday proposed to build fighter planes for the military the way other commercial companies build automobiles, refrigerators and televisions.Lockheed Martin Corp. said that modifying its F-16 fighter plane production operations would save the Pentagon hundreds of millions of dollars by eliminating red tape and cutting documentation costs.The company says it wants to "commercialize" the process, meaning among other things that subcontractors would work directly with Lockheed Martin rather than having to bid through a government procurement process.

WASHINGTON -- There will be no combat-ready F-22 fighter planes produced next year, but the Pentagon can buy up to six test versions of the jet under a compromise military spending plan that House and Senate negotiators agreed to last night.The plan both saves the Lockheed Martin-built aircraft from a proposed cut that supporters said would kill it and requires the contractor to test the complex plane more thoroughly before the Pentagon commits to buying it.A House-Senate conference committee produced the plan as part of a $267.

WASHINGTON -- With the doors closed and only one other congressman in the small room on the first floor of the Capitol, Rep. Jerry Lewis dropped a bomb."