Defense firms push for F-15 sale; critics see Mideast security threat.

Los Angeles County's aerospace industry is embroiled in yet another political debate and, as is so often the case, the central question is jobs versus national or international security.

The point of contention is the proposed sale of 72 F-15 fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia, a deal that would be worth more than $5 billion to military contractors.

A key argument by proponents of the sale, typically contractors already battered by defense cutbacks, is it would support 40,000 jobs -- perhaps 8 percent of them in Los Angeles County -- through 1997.

Opponents, led by a bevy of elected officials, assert a higher issue is involved: The sale would upset the Middle East balance of power and threaten Israel's national security.

Deciding the issue will be President Bush.

According to U.S. Jobs Now, a defense industry group that has been formed to lobby for the transaction, the sale to the Saudis would maintain about 3,100 jobs at 28 subcontracting companies in Santa Monica, El Segundo and Torrance through 1997.

Current orders for the F-15 expire in two years, when the aircraft's mainframe assembler -- McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis -- will make its final delivery to the Air Force.

The Saudi sale could generate about $1.5 billion in new business for Southern California-based military contractors, the coalition says. Big companies such as Los Angeles-based Hughes Aircraft Co. would benefit from the sale, as well as at least two dozen subcontractors, according to U.S. Jobs Now.

A leader in opposing the transaction, Rep. Mel Levine, D-Santa Monica, earlier this month lost in his bid for the Democratic nomination for the Senate. But it's unlikely his anti-sale stand hurt him because most of the other candidates for the Senate seat opposed the sale, as apparently do the rivals for Levine's congressional seat, which has been reapportioned.

"It wasn't a big issue in the local campaign because it seemed all the candidates basically agreed," said Bill Andresen, an aide to Levine. "Where it may become a bigger issue is in the national election because it involves the argument for U.S. jobs against Middle East security."

Levine's congressional seat has been divided into two and the candidates for the seats, which encompass the Torrance, El Segundo and Santa Monica areas, are Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, a Republican, against Democrat Jane Harman, and Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat, against Republican Mark Robbins.

Waxman, according to a spokesman, opposes the sale; the other three candidates were unavailable for comment.

In April, Levine sponsored a letter to President Bush that was signed by 238 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives expressing concern and opposition to the sale.

On the other side, officials from six labor unions and six large aerospace companies -- some of which have no stake in the F-15 project -- have written separate letters to Bush urging him to approve the sale.

The White House's position is not clear. An April letter from National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft to McDonnell Douglas Chairman John McDonnell said the transaction "is under careful review." There have been no recent indications from the White House when Bush will act on the request that was initiated by the Saudis but must be approved by the president.

The F-15 is an aging fighter aircraft that has been used mainly by the U.S. Air Force, but an updated version of the plane -- the F-15E Eagle -- is supposed to be one of the most sophisticated air-to-ground attack aircraft in existence.

Saudi Arabia has said it wants to buy 72 F-15s, including an undetermined number of F-15Es, which could keep the project going through 1997, says U.S. Jobs Now.

The biggest beneficiary of the F-15 deal locally would be the radar systems division of Hughes Aircraft, which has facilities in the South Bay area.

According to Kearney Bothwell, a Hughes spokesman, the company now employs about 750 people who make radar systems for the F-15, and all of them could lose their jobs if Bush does not agree to the sale, which would mean about $500 million in new business for Hughes.

In late April the U.S. Jobs Now alliance, as well as Hughes Aircraft, held a rally on company grounds in support of the sale. About 1,200 people attended the rally, which was covered by at least one daily newspaper and a couple of television stations.

However, the rally was held just a few hours before the Los Angeles riot started, and the tumult pre-empted most of the event's coverage, noted Bothwell.

One of the many smaller subcontractors that would be affected by the sale is DASCO Engineering in Torrance. Ward Olson, vice president of the company, said DASCO depends on a few large projects for most of its work, so to lose any one contract is a serious blow.

"Right now we're operating with about 40 people but we have been up to 75. Whenever there are project cuts, it hurts us," he said.

The U.S. Jobs Now group has lobbied for the project but without anything like the support given to some other controversial military programs like the B-2 stealth bomber. The group, supported mainly by F-15 contractors and subcontractors, has written letters to congressional and White House officials and has taken out ads in newspapers and government publications in Washington, D.C. However, there apparently has not been the expensive lobbying effort that was launched for programs like the B-2.

A McDonnell Douglas spokesman in St. Louis, Lee Whitney, would not comment on how much the campaign has cost but a source said it has been less than $1 million. "The type of campaign we have run has been designed to use our suppliers (subcontractors on the project) to get the word out and write letters," said Whitney.

But the sale is considered an important proposal.

"This is a major political issue because you have the Arab and Israeli factions and then the question about jobs. In the middle is Bush who is facing re-election," said retired Rear Adm. Eugene Carroll, who is deputy director of the Center for Defense Information in Washington.

"I think what will happen is that it will come down to the profit motive and, as it usually does, it will come out on top and the sale will go through," he said.