DARKSTAR DRAWS FLAK IN SENATE; LOCAL PROJECT UNDER FIRE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

In a move seen as a warning to Lockheed Martin to produce results or face the consequences, the Senate is recommending cancellation of DarkStar, an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft the company is developing in Palmdale.

The Senate's version of the defense authorization bill omits $40.5 million sought for DarkStar testing and development. The House of Representatives' version of the bill, passed Thursday night, includes DarkStar funding.

``It's a message to Lockheed Martin that you better fly the thing or you won't get any money,'' said Greg Campbell, legislative director for Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, a DarkStar supporter. ``We'll continue to fight for it. Our position will be helped if the testing goes well.''

The first DarkStar crashed March 29, 1996, at Edwards Air Force Base during takeoff on its second flight. The crash was attributed to software problems and takeoff technique.

The second DarkStar is conducting taxiing tests in preparation for its first flight.

``Hopefully, we'll be flying in a couple of weeks,'' said Lockheed Martin Skunk Works spokesman Ron Lindeke.

The Skunk Works is building two more DarkStar aircraft under a $58.4 million contract with the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, the same organization that initiated the F-117 stealth fighter program in the 1970s.

Wide, flat and tailless, with a 69-foot wingspan and a blunt fuselage only 15 feet long and 5 feet in diameter, the 8,600-pound aircraft is powered by an engine similar to the one used in the Cessna Citation business jet, capable of propelling DarkStar to altitudes above 45,000 feet.

DarkStar is intended to be the ``eye in the sky'' for battlefield commanders. The stealthy, high-altitude aircraft is designed to be able to linger over a battlefield for more than eight hours and cover more than 14,000 square miles.

DarkStar will fly pre-programmed flights, conducting its entire mission without additional commands from the ground. From the air, it will transmit video and radar night or day to ground forces.

While the craft is in the air over a battlefield, a commander also can order its programming changed to suit changing situations.

DarkStar is intended to be more economical compared with other spy planes. It is projected to cost under $2,000 an hour to fly, vs. the $30,000 per hour the triple-supersonic, intercontinental SR-71 Blackbird had cost and the $6,000-an-hour tab for the U-2.