U.S. NEEDS MORE BOMBERS ARMED SERVICES PANEL CHAIRMAN: PLAN LOWER-COST VERSION OF B-2.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - The United States needs at least 50 long-range, ``stealthy'' bombers and should consider producing a lower-cost version of the B-2 bomber, an influential congressman said Tuesday.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter, in an interview with the Daily News, said the nation's bomber fleet is woefully undersized, given the potential war missions the U.S. military might have to undertake.

``Obviously, the B-2 is the only thing we have on the drawing boards,'' Hunter said during a telephone interview. ``We need a new bomber, whether it's a variant of the B-2 or something less.''

Hunter said he wants the Bush administration to take a hard look at Northrop Grumman's 2-year-old proposal to build a lower-cost variant of the B-2 stealth bomber. Twenty-one were built in the 1980s and 1990s for $44.4 billion.

Hunter also said the Pentagon should reverse its decision to retire 31 B-1B bombers - from a total force of slightly more than 200 B-1Bs, B-2s and B-52s - citing the same concern about needing long-range bombers.

The Pentagon began sending the Palmdale-built bombers to an aircraft storage field in Arizona in August.

``I think we would be well-served to retrieve those out of the boneyard,'' Hunter said.

In a statement released Monday, Hunter said President George W. Bush's proposed 2004 defense budget of $380 billion, up $15 billion from this year's budget, is a step in the right direction. While the proposed budget is more than $70 billion over the last Clinton administration defense budget, Hunter believes it is still short by $43 billion.

Hunter, a San Diego County Republican, also spoke of the need for more bombers, particularly those hard to spot on enemy radar screens.

``The budget is still too low to fully counter the dangers America presently faces,'' Hunter said. ``Further, the need for sustained deep-strike capability should compel expanding the long-range bomber force by fielding 50 additional aircraft with stealth characteristics and precision capabilities.''

Shortly after President Bush took office, Northrop Grumman sent the Defense Department a letter indicating it could build 40 more B-2s at a cost of about $28 billion, compared with the $44.4 billion that was spent manufacturing the existing 21-plane fleet.

The new B-2s, dubbed B-2Cs, could be built cheaper because of improved manufacturing techniques and use of off-the-shelf electronics, officials say. Much of the $44.4 billion initial cost went into developing new technology before the first plane was built, experts say.

The Pentagon has studies under way to determine what the nation's long- range bomber needs are. The studies will look at a variety of options, including reopening the B-2 production line.

A number of Pentagon officials are opposed to the idea of buying more B-2s, including Secretary of the Air Force James Roche and Pete Aldridge, undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.

Aldridge and Roche share an opinion that the nation would be better off, at least in the short term, by investing in technologies that would enable aircraft to establish data networks with each other, providing clearer pictures of potential targets and threats in a battle zone.

The Bush administration is proposing to continue a program of upgrading and modifying the 21-plane B-2 fleet. The proposed 2004 defense budget includes $260 million for the program and the Pentagon plans to ask for $363.2 million in 2005.

The B-2 earned praise for its performance in the Kosovo air war and in the bombing of Afghanistan. For its Afghanistan missions, B-2s flew 45-hour missions from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

If war erupts with Iraq, the B-2s will likely see action again. Two portable shelters for the batwing bombers have been erected on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.