EDWARDS IN LINE FOR MILLIONS HOUSE OKS FUNDS FOR BASE HOUSING, RUNWAY, MORE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Edwards Air Force Base will pick up funding for a new runway, additional housing and rocket technology testing under a $441.6 billion defense authorization bill passed by the House of Representatives.

The bill, approved Wednesday but still requiring Senate agreement, includes a funding boost for improvements to the B-2 stealth bomber and cuts for the F-25 joint strike fighter and the Global Hawk reconnaissance aircraft.

Edwards is slated to receive $59.6 million to continue a program aimed at replacing the base's aging homes for airmen with families. Much of the base's housing was built in the 1950s, lacks central heating and cooling, and is becoming increasingly expensive to maintain.

The base will also receive $37 million to start a $103 million project to build a new runway that will replace an aging and crumbing concrete runway. Plans call for building the runway parallel to the aging 04/22 runway so test work can continue during construction.

The funding was hailed as recognition of the importance of high desert bases to national defense in a joint press statement from Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, and Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield, whose districts include Edwards, the Army's Fort Irwin in San Bernardino County and the Navy's China Lake installation in northern Kern County.

``These installations have contributed to a number of critical victories in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this additional funding will go a long way toward meeting future military needs,'' McKeon said. ``I am grateful that my colleagues recognized the necessity for this funding, and granted our requests for continued support.''

The bill also includes $2.3 million for Edwards to install PC-based computer clusters to replace larger high-powered computers and $6.5 million to upgrade simulation and engineering tools at the rocket laboratory.

The rocket lab will receive $6 million for work on liquid oxygen/hydrogen upper stage rocket engines; $2 million for solid rocket booster technology work; and $4 million for its Advanced Vehicle Propulsion Technology program.

The bill also provides a $20 million increase to the funding request to continue improvements to the B-2 stealth bomber fleet, bringing the total to $364 million. Upgrades to the bomber fleet are performed by Northrop Grumman workers in Palmdale.

The additional funding to replace outdated onboard computer processors.

Two aircraft programs with Antelope Valley connections saw funding reductions - the F-35 joint strike fighter, which was cut $152 million, and the Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, was cut nearly $30 million.

The vote is expected to have no immediate effect on Antelope Valley jobs. The cut on the F-35 program was aimed at the request for funding for advance purchases of the fighters, parts of which are built in Palmdale. The bill left intact, however, the $2.4 billion for continued research and development of the fighter.

In cutting the F-35 budget, the House Armed Services Committee noted in a report accompanying the bill that changes had to be made to the fighter's design in order to shed weight. The changes pushed the first flight of the jet back to 2008. The first jet is under assembly by Lockheed Martin workers in Texas.

Center fuselage sections of the F-35 are being assembled by Northrop Grumman in Palmdale, and flight testing is planned for Edwards Air Force Base.

In trimming the Global Hawk funding, the committee noted that the program has been restructured twice and that costs have risen. The planned purchase of 63 airplanes was cut to 53 in a major restructuring of the program in 2002 and the cost of the program climbed from $5.3 billion to $6.2 billion.

``The committee strongly supports the Global Hawk program and believes that it is an essential element of our national intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability,'' the committee's report said. ``However, this program must be finally brought under proper management control.''

The Pentagon had advocated a ``build a little, fly a little'' approach to the program, allowing aircraft to be fielded while development work continues. However, critics said investments in the aircraft should be slowed down and a more conventional development approach adopted.

``We want to see the technology we are buying,'' said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., who chairs the tactical air and land forces subcommittee.

The program will still receive $368.5 million, which will include the purchases of four aircraft and one ground control station.

The Global Hawk aircraft are being built by a small cadre of Northrop Grumman workers in Palmdale.

The authorization bill sets the policies, programs and funding levels for the nation's military and national defense needs. The bill was passed by a vote of 390-39.

Differences with whatever defense bill the Senate passes will be worked out by negotiators from both houses.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com