Job shops bombard Congress to save to plane projects.

They lobby heavily to protect the C-17, F-18 programs

Los Angeles County's small defense-industry subcontractors - an endangered species locally - have launched an all-out lobbying effort to save the area's two remaining military aircraft projects.

One member of the county's congressional delegation has so far received more than 1,100 letters from local subcontractors.

The so-called "job shops," which have seen their numbers dwindle significantly because of cuts in defense spending, have started a letter-writing campaign and telephone blitz to save the C-17 and F-18 projects.

The C-17, a United States Air Force cargo plane, is built by Douglas Aircraft Co. in Long Beach, and 40 percent of the F-18, a fighter aircraft, is made by Northrop Corp. in El Segundo and Hawthorne.

"These are the only big projects we have left, so we have to make sure that we keep them here in Los Angeles County," said David Goodreau, chairman of the California Industrial Leadership Council, a statewide organization of small manufacturing companies.

"Because there are so few projects left, we have to let people know that there are a lot of people who are dependent on these two programs and to lose them would be devastating," said Goodreau, who is also president of Newman Machine Works Co. in Burbank.

The small subcontractors, which generally have fewer than 50 employees, have asked members of the California congressional delegation to support the two projects. The message to members of the delegation is simple and direct, said the subcontractors: Continue funding for the C-17 and F-18.

The subcontractors claim in the letters that more than 500 California companies are involved in the production of the two aircraft projects. Figures on how many Los Angeles County companies are involved in the projects was not available but subcontractors estimated that dozens of local job shops do work on the C-17, F-18, or both.

Benn Jackson, president and owner of Jackson Aerospace Inc. in Gardena, said cuts in defense spending have already forced him to reduce employment from 16 to 11 workers over the last three years. Between 15 percent and 20 percent of the company's annual revenues of about $2.5 million come from work on the F-18, he said.

"Companies like ours don't have the money to do much more than write letters and that's what we're doing. We haven't gotten any response yet from (U.S. senators) Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (both Democrats from California). But what we are telling them is that we just can't afford any more cuts," said Jackson.

Neither Boxer's nor Feinstein's Washington, D.C. office returned Business Journal phone calls for comment on the letterwriting campaign.

Marcus Mason, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Walter Tucker, D-Compton, said the congressman has received more than 1,100 letters from workers on the C-17 and F-18 projects. Mason said most of the letters have been from the South Bay area and from employees of small job shops.

"One woman sent in a silver bracelet that was engraved with the words |Remember the C-17,'" said Mason. He said the letters started arriving in July and are still being delivered on almost a daily basis. He noted that more than 1,100 letters on a particular issue is a significant number.

In the past, the county's congressional delegation has been split on supporting various defense projects that were based in the Southland. With the C-17 and F-18, however, there appears to be fairly uniform support for the two projects.

Both Feinstein and Boxer have said they support both projects, and according to Mason, most of the county's 18 members of Congress have indicated support for the C-17 and F-18.

In Washington, support for the F-18 is stronger than that for the C-17, a problem-plagued program that is now under review by the Department of Defense because of cost overruns and structural problems. Six C-17s have now been built in Long Beach but the Air Force has said it wants 120 of the aircraft, which would mean $40 billion in new business for Douglas and its subcontractors.

The rear section of the F-18 has been assembled locally by Century City-based Northrop since the late 1970s for the prime contractor, McDonnell Douglas Corp. So far, more than 1,200 F-18s have been delivered to the Navy and several overseas governments.

The question now before Congress is whether to fund production of two new versions of the aircraft, the F-18 E and F, through the end of the century. Production on the current models of the F-18 is winding down.

Andy Rasmussen, president of El-Co Machine Products Inc. in Inglewood, said he has sent letters to the local and state representatives in Congress "because there have been too many cuts already and if there are any more a lot more of us are going to go out of business."

Based in auction notices he receives, Rasmussen estimated that about 50 defense industry job shops in Los Angeles County have closed down in the last two years because of defense cuts.

Rasmussen said 16 people work at his shop making structural parts for the F-18.

"It would be a real blow if we lost the F-18," he said. "It's now a proven product that should continue to get funding not only because it's a good aircraft but because of the jobs."