Radar System

The U.S. Air Force's fledgling F-22 fighter faces a set of performance tests this summer and fall that could determine its immediate future, and consequently the future of Maryland's largest corporation and as many as 700 Baltimore-area jobs, government and corporate officials said yesterday. Before the Defense Acquisitions Board will approve initial production of the F-22 Raptor - a decision expected in December - three more demonstration aircraft must be built, for a total of six. And one of those aircraft must fly with an advanced version of the plane's much-vaunted radar and software package - a key step in proving that the plane can do what its designers say it can. For Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp.

WASHINGTON - By kicking the thorny issue of national missile defense to his successor, President Clinton effectively delayed construction of an Alaska-based defense system yesterday but gave proponents of an alternative sea-based approach renewed hope that their version could be built even sooner. Clinton needed to decide by this fall whether to go ahead with a radar system on an Aleutian island, the first part of the 100-missile defense system that was expected to be in operation by 2005.

WASHINGTON - Backing off from an option that could have irritated U.S.-China relations beyond their already tender state, President Bush has decided not to sell the sophisticated Aegis radar system and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to Taiwan, congressional and administration officials said last night. Instead, Bush has opted to sell Taiwan up to four less-advanced Kidd-class destroyers, which are not equipped to carry the Aegis, officials said. The president will also sell Taiwan up to 12 P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft and help it to purchase up to eight diesel submarines.

WASHINGTON -- A federal affidavit unsealed in New York yesterday portrays a close working relationship between Representative Roy P. Dyson, D-Md.-1st, and defense contractor lobbyists, including two men convicted of bribing Pentagon officials in the recent defense procurement scandal.The lobbyists were the sources of tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Mr. Dyson in 1987 and 1988 when the fate of contracts in which they had an interest depended on actions by the House Armed Services Committee, of which Mr. Dyson is a member.

WASHINGTON - Taiwan's plea for destroyers, upgraded defensive missiles and a sophisticated radar system is again putting the United States on the spot, forcing President Bush to choose between enraging China by saying "yes" and angering congressional Republicans with a "no." Walking the Taiwan arms-request tightrope is an annual affair for Washington, but the prelude to this year's decision promises to be especially contentious as advocates on both sides of the issue see an opportunity to mold the administration's still-developing China policy.

A lightning strike injured a Cecil County zookeeper, half-dollar-sized hail fell in several counties and tornado sightings sent people scurrying for shelter from Rockville to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Yet the worst fears of weather forecasters didn't materialize Thursday. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center called the first of two systems that darkened skies and dumped rain Thursday a "low-end" derecho, known for powerful winds that travel in a straight line over hundreds of miles.

The federal government has decided to install at Baltimore-Washington International Airport a new kind of radar that should make it possible to build a second long runway to accommodate growth and attract new airline service."

Backup radar systems at Baltimore-Washington International Airport performed "exceptionally well" in tests yesterday, according to a senior air traffic controller, who said problems appear to have been largely corrected after two major failures in recent months. The two backup systems were tested for an hour beginning at 9:30 a.m. during a period of heavy weekday traffic to better measure radar performance, said Rockton Thurman, a senior BWI controller and head of the local National Air Traffic Controller's Association.

WASHINGTON -- Raytheon Co. got U.S. approval for its $2.95 billion purchase of Texas Instruments Inc.'s defense electronics business by agreeing to sell a TI unit that produces a key component for radar systems.Under a settlement announced yesterday by the Justice Department, Raytheon will sell Texas Instruments' production facilities for high-power monolithic microwave integrated circuits, or MMICs, which extend the power and range of radar systems for fighter aircraft and other weapons systems.

A joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. won a contract yesterday to begin production of radar systems for Apache attack helicopters, a major military program that is expected to bring $2.5 billion in future sales for the two companies.The contract awarded by the Army yesterday is for the first 10 units of the so-called Longbow system and is worth $139 million to the companies, Maryland's biggest defense contractors."This award means the full Longbow system has now transitioned from development to production," said George Minto, president of the joint venture.