$85.3 MILLION INCREASE FOR B-2 FLEET?Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer PALMDALE - The B-2 stealth bomber fleet could get $85.3 million more than President George W. Bush requested for modifications, research and development under a defense authorization bill approved by the House Armed Services Committee The term Armed Services Committee could refer to:
The committee included a total of $313.9 million for the B-2 in its version of the 2004 Defense Authorization. ``A critical lesson learned from the continuing war on terrorism Terrorist acts and the threat of Terrorism have occupied the various law enforcement agencies in the U.S. government for many years. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, as amended by the usa patriot act is the need for deep strike capabilities, especially when access to overseas bases is limited,'' the committee said in a report on its bill. ``The Air Force should continue to upgrade the existing B-2 fleet with the most effective systems and weapons.'' Of the increased amount the committee included for the program, $31 million was recommended to go toward fixing a problem with cracks appearing on the bombers' aft decks. A year ago, the Air Force acknowledged that cracking was observed on 16 of the 21 bombers. The cracks, up to 9 inches long, were found on the aft decks behind the engine exhausts. ``The cracking is not a safety-of-flight issue and it has not affected the B-2's combat availability,'' said Jim Hart, spokesman for Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is an aerospace and defense conglomerate that is the result of the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company is the third largest defense contractor for the U.S. , the bomber's prime contractor. The funding is to find a permanent correction to the cracks. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , Northrop Grumman and the Air Force have identified some options for an interim solution and are evaluating them, Hart said. The cracking is the recurrence recurrence /re·cur·rence/ (-ker´ens) the return of symptoms after a remission.recur´rent re·cur·rence n. 1. of an old problem. Similar cracking was reported in 1990, prompting design changes and patching work costing $200 million. Other Antelope Valley-related projects included in the $400.5 billion bill are $3.5 billion for the continued development and production of the F/A-22 fighter and $2.2 billion for the development of the F-35 joint strike fighter A strike fighter is a fighter aircraft which is also capable of attacking surface targets, including ships. It differs from an attack aircraft in that the aircraft remains a capable fighter. . Components for the F/A-22 are built by Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. in Palmdale and the jet is flight tested at Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. . Northrop Grumman, a subcontractor One who takes a portion of a contract from the principal contractor or from another subcontractor. When an individual or a company is involved in a large-scale project, a contractor is often hired to see that the work is done. to Lockheed Martin on the F-35, plans to assemble fuselage sections of the joint strike fighter in Palmdale. A large portion of the flight testing of that aircraft will also be done at Edwards. The Palmdale-built Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft had funding added to its development budget, but dollars were taken away from a demonstration project to showcase its ability to patrol the oceans to spot ships and aircraft. The committee provided $403.2 million, up $4.6 million over the President's request, for work to improve Global Hawk's sensors. The committee reduced the Global Hawk's maritime surveillance demonstration project for the Navy to $93.1 million, down $8.4 million from the president's request. The committee said it wanted to avoid duplication of effort with similar work being done for the Air Force. |
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