Congress mulls resuming F-117 fighter production; boon seen for Lockheed if stealth program flies again.

A congressional panel could decide this week whether to appropriate $560 million to restart production of the Lockheed Corp.-assembled F-117 stealth fighter aircraft.

If final funding is approved, the additional aircraft would be built in Palmdale and would require additional staffing, said Lockheed spokesman Richard Stadler. He was uncertain about the number of workers that could be hired or how much of the proposed appropriation would actually end up at Lockheed as new revenues.

The possible restart pushed Lockheed stock up to just $2 below its 52-week high of more than $47 per share on the New York Stock Exchange. Last week the stock was trading around $45 a share but its price has been climbing steadily since the Persian Gulf War and Lockheed's victory in bidding to build the advanced tactical fighter.

Late last month a joint House and Senate authorization committee approved the funding for production of four F-117s that would be part of a package of 12 new stealth fighters. A joint appropriations committee could vote on the measure this week before sending it to the full House and Senate.

The appropriation for the F-117s would be part of an overall defense budget of $250 billion requested by the Pentagon for fiscal year 1992, which started on Oct. 1.

Further production of the stealth fighter, with its high-technology weapons and radar-evading capabilities, has gained support in Congress because of its success in the Persian Gulf War last winter.

The joint authorization committee said in a statement it was "applying the lessons learned and contributions made by the F-117 in Operation Desert Storm." The committee, after approval of the funding, said the current fleet of 59 F-117s "is insufficient to meet future requirements."

Stadler denied that Lockheed, which is based in Calabasas, has extensively lobbied members of Congress and the Department of Defense to restart the program.

"From time to time there have been reports from some Air Force people and journalists that we were lobbying and pushing for a line restart of the F-117, but the idea for more came from the Senate Armed Services Committee, not us," said Stadler. "What we have done is supply information that has been requested from Congress and the Air Force."

Development and production of the F-117 was kept secret throughout most of the 1980s. The delivery of the final F-117 to the Air Force was in 1989 and carried a total per-unit cost of $42.6 million.

Stadler said the per-unit cost of 24 new F-117s would be an estimated $60 million. He said Lockheed has been providing information to the military based on production of 24 new aircraft.

It could cost as much as $65 million to restart to F-117 production process, Stadler said.