Antelope Valley takes offensive as B-2 jobs threatened by cracks. (Up Front).

A delegation of Antelope Valley businesspeople will lobby California's Congressional delegation later this month amid growing concern that Northrop Grumman Corp. will be forced to shelve plans to restart production of the B-2 Stealth bomber because of cracking in 16 of its planes and other persistent maintenance problems.

Los Angeles-based Northrop, which employs 1,000 people in Palmdale to service the plane, wanted to land a $29.4 billion contract to restart production on another 40--a deal that could result in as many as 6,000 new jobs.

But the program is in serious doubt, not only because of the cracks but because of a change in military strategy that favors planes like Lockheed's F-22 Raptor jet fighter.

"We want to let them know the Antelope Valley is alive and well and ready to assist the military with not just the B-2 but other (programs)," said Gretchen Gutierrez, executive director of the Antelope Valley Board of Trade, which is sending 15 board members to Washington on April 15. The business advocacy group has 175 corporate members throughout the Palmdale-Lancaster area.

Failure to restart B-2 production would not result in layoffs, Northrop officials said. Maintenance and upgrades of the planes are still performed at the Air Force's Plant 42 in Palmdale. Most upgrade work consists of improving weapons capabilities, communication systems and re-coating the planes with radar-evading materials after missions.

But Dave Myers, president of the Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance, said not restarting the B-2 contract will hurt die region's aerospace industry.

"If you have a major project like the B-2, it helps attract people back into aerospace," he said. "But there has been a significant reduction in the aerospace workforce. New people have not been going into aerospace because they haven't seen the opportunity."

Plagued by down lime

Although the cracks are not considered a safety hazard and the Air Force has not grounded any planes, they represent the latest problems that have plagued the 21-plane fleet. Last year, the planes were combat-ready only 31 percent of the time, down from the 37 percent rate the year before and far below the Air Force standard of 60 percent.

"From the Air Force's standpoint, it's probably a convenient last nail in the coffin," said Richard Aboulafia, director of aviation for Teal Group, a Fairfax, Va. consulting firm. "(The cracks) can be used to silence the last vocal advocates of additional B-2 procurements. I like (the plane) but there is a difference between liking it and believing it will be funded."

James Hart, a Northrop spokesman, had little to say about the cracks or the growing opposition to restarting the assembly line. "We're studying the problem' he said. "I don't really have any comment other than that."

Air Force Major Rob Koon, a Pentagon spokesman, said a team of Air Force and Northrop engineers has developed an "outer mold line patch" and a new seal to cover up the cracks. He downplayed the significance of the problem and said the planes would still be able to fly.

Pentagon officials said the B-2s, which can stay up 40 hours at a time and carry a dozen 1,000-pound bombs, were used last October during the initial strikes in the Afghanistan, but have since taken a back seat to Boeing Co.'s B-1 and B-52 bombers.

President Bush did not include any funding for B-2 startup production costs in his fiscal 2003 defense budget proposal. Also, Air Force Secretary James Roche has said in recent months that the Air Force does not need any more B-2s.

Roche's office is shifting its priorities toward Lockheed Martin Corp.'s stealthy jet fighters: the F-22 Raptor, now in low-rate production, and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which could begin light production in two years.

"A lot of people who study the military believe there is an institutional prejudice towards fighter aircraft over long-range bomber aircraft," said Christopher Bolkcom, a military aviation analyst for Congressional Research Service.

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said he believed Northrop would use its space in the Air Force's Plant 42 for other operations if additional B-2 orders are not secured. The company is already ramping up its operations in anticipating of increased orders for the Global Hawk unmanned aerial reconaissance vehicle and is competing with Boeing for a contract to make an unmanned aerial combat vehicle.

"It's a state-of-the-art plant," said Kyser. "There aren't too many Stealth-capable factories in the U.S. And the (high-level) security and (obscure) location keep the work away from prying eyes. That means it has a bright future for other advanced research and development projects."