SOUTHLAND FUNDS IN DEFENSE BILL.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush plans to sign off Thursday on a massive spending bill that includes more than $200 million for a range of military operations throughout Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties.

The $418 billion defense appropriations act - which will be the first spending bill of the year to reach Bush's desk - includes $25 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, a 3.5 percent pay raise for soldiers, training and equipment funds, as well as billions for new weapons systems.

Lawmakers allocated $4.1 billion to procure two dozen F/A-22 Raptor aircraft and demanded an updated cost estimate for the program. Components for the F/A-22 are produced in Palmdale by Lockheed Martin and are flight-tested at Edwards Air Force Base.

The bill also includes $4.4 billion for the joint strike fighter. Fuselage sections will be assembled by Northrop Grumman in Palmdale, and flight testing is planned for Edwards.

The bill also includes $1.1 million for flight testing, while a separate military bill wrapping up in Congress allocates $9.9 million to continue the Edwards Air Force Base renovation of what will be the Joint Strike Fighter Complex.

The bill going to the president also appropriates $27 billion - secured, in part, by Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita - to test and evaluate the Maverick and Hummingbird unmanned aerial vehicles near Victorville.

The bill includes $2 million to develop educational programs on astronomy and space exploration at Griffith Observatory.

Among the bill's big-money appropriations for Ventura County projects, largely secured by Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, are $3.25 million for a program at Point Mugu to evaluate asymmetric warfare technology and $2.5 million for the Thousand Oaks-based company Rockwell Scientific to build infrared imaging sensors.

Lisa Friedman, [phone]

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com