PENTAGON REJECTS MCKEON'S CALL FOR SPY-PLANE FUNDING.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

The Pentagon rejected a request from Antelope Valley's congressman to reactivate the SR-71 program, saying the program is not cost effective and there are better reconnaissance tools available.

In a letter to U.S. Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, Undersecretary of Defense William J. Lyan said the Pentagon does not want to restore $39 million eliminated by President Clinton in a line-item veto. The money should be used for other needed programs, Lyan wrote.

In explaining the decision, Lyan quoted a response Secretary of Defense William Cohen offered to Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. in explaining why the 2,000-mph spy plane would not be revived.

``In the current fiscally constrained defense environment, we must ensure maximum return for every dollar we invest in our nation's defense. The SR-71 no longer meets this criterion. In today's post-Cold War era, the SR-71's penetration capability does not justify its cost. Our imagery requirements are better met with current and planned airborne and space-based systems,'' Cohen said.

McKeon will continue to push legislation to try to bring the program back, said the congressman's spokesman, David Foy.

``We are continuing to work on it and point out the advantages of the SR-71,'' Foy said.

President Clinton stopped the SR-71 Blackbird program in October by using a line-item veto to cut $39 million for its operations. The planes were retired in April.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the line-item veto was unconstitutional.

Based at Edwards Air Force Base, the program had a staff of 11 military personnel and 90 contractor employees.

The program provided $4 million annually to the Antelope Valley economy, according to an environmental impact report prepared for the deactivation of the program.

NASA will continue to fly one of the SR-71 spy planes in research missions, as well as the modified SR-71B trainer.

McKeon has introduced a bill to provide $30 million for the spy plane. The bill extends the authorization to spend $30 million on Blackbird operations to Sept. 30, 1999. Without the extension, the funding authority would lapse this September.

The authority to spend $9 million for SR-71 aircraft modifications is valid for three more years.

``The SR-71s capabilities are indispensable in defending America in this era of international terrorism and rogue nations armed with weapons of mass destruction,'' McKeon said.

Earlier this year, McKeon and nine other congressmen sent a letter to the Pentagon asking for the restoration of the funds. In the letter, the representatives argued the Blackbird aircraft are needed to provide quick intelligence information in a world that has seen the spread of sophisticated weapons in Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan and India.

Citing limited financial resources and development of other reconnaissance systems, such as unmanned drones and satellites, the Blackbird airplanes were first retired in late 1989.

Spurred by accounts of field commanders not receiving the intelligence they needed during the Persian Gulf War, Congress voted to restore the program.

After a refurbishing and modification program by Lockheed Martin's ``Skunk Works'' in Palmdale, two SR-71s were declared ready for spy missions on Jan. 1, 1997.