Pentagon cuts Lockheed jet order as snags, costs spin gilt of control.

The Pentagon has cut 46 planes from Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F/A-22 Raptor program, which has been plagued by $880 million in cost overruns -- a move that could trim by a third the 3,000 jobs the program was expected to generate for local subcontractors over the next 10 years.

In addition, mechanical problems during initial the low-rate production of the aircraft have delayed the start of operational testing until this summer. Full-rate production will be delayed from the original target of late 2003 to mid-2006.

"The program continues to be slipping," said Philip Coyle III, a senior advisory with the Center for Defense Information, a Washington research planning and policy group. "The Air Force program office is not acknowledging how far behind schedule the program really is. I wouldn't be surprised if (cost overruns) ran over $1 billion before the program is through."

Two years ago, the Department of Defense put a $43 billion budget cap on the cost of the project, out of which $10 billion was expected to go to 250 local subcontractors. The biggest of these is Raytheon Co.'s El Segundo-based Space & Airborne Systems, which has a $3 billion contract to construct the planes' common integrated processor, which is a super computer that controls every function of the aircraft.

When complete, the Raptor is expected to be the most advanced military fighter in the world. It is capable of flying at speeds of 1,500 miles per hour for short distances or 800 miles per hour for longer stretches and is easier for pilots to maneuver than other military jets.

An advanced avionics system, which includes state-of-the-art radar and sensors, allows pilots to monitor everything that is going on around them.

The Raptor's weapons bays can simultaneously hold two radar-guided and two heat-seeking missiles as well as two 1,000-pound Global Positioning Satellite-guided "smart bombs."

"All of these previously segregated technologies have been balanced and blended into a single aircraft," said Greg Caires, a Lockheed spokesman.

Caires downplayed the cost overruns, noting that they are common during the engineering and manufacturing development phase of a new program, But he added that Lockheed and its suppliers are searching for ways to make cuts. For that reason, defense analysts believe that Lockheed and its subcontractors will be forced to reduce hiring levels to come within the budget.

The program is under extreme scrutiny by the Pentagon -- so much so that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has vowed to personally oversee annual reviews of the F/A-22.

Operational problems

Earlier mechanical problems with the plane's vertical tails and the planned retrofitting of its avionics systems have slowed deliveries needed to begin operational testing.

Lockheed, which assembles the plane at its Marietta, Ga. plant, has delivered 12 planes since low-rate initial production began in August 2001, and the company plans to build and deliver 12 more this year.

Full-rate production is now scheduled to run from 2006 through 2013, with Lockheed reaching an annual maximum production of 36 planes beginning in 2010 instead of the originally planned 2005.

In an effort to shift focus to the aircraft's more positive attributes, the Air Force changed the plane's designation from F-22 to F/A-22 last September, emphasizing its air-to-ground attack capabilities.

"We felt that it more accurately reflected it's multi-mission roles and capabilities," said Air Force Lt. Col. Art Haubold, a Pentagon spokesman. "The F-22 designation infers it's strictly an air-to-air fighter."

Other subcontractors in the area working on the Raptor include Honeywell Inc. in Torrance, which has a $421 million contract to make the environmental control system to control the airplane's temperature; BAE Systems in Santa Monica, which will make part of the flight control system for $371 million; and Aerospace Dynamics Inc. of Valencia, which has been awarded a contract for $170 million to make the aircraft's "aft booms," which help maintain the plane's structural integrity.

Local defense contractors have been looking to the Raptor program to provide a steady employment base until Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program goes into production in 2008. Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Palmdale plant will be a major subcontractor for that plane. That program is expected to bring $100 billion in subcontract and supplier work to the area over a 30- to 40-year period beginning with low-rate production of the 3,000-plane program in 2008.