In a blow to the Air Force's No. 1 priority -- the F-22 fighter -- the Senate Armed Services Committee today cut $420 million from the service's FY98 research request of $2 billion.
The House National Security Committee made no cut to the request.
The Senate panel's Air Land Subcommittee Wednesday night approved the cut after freshman Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., withdrew an amendment he planned to offer to restore the money.
The F-22 is assembled at a Marietta, Ga., facility and Cleland is a strong supporter. Cleland withheld his amendment again today when it became apparent he did not have the votes.
Subcommittee Chairman Dan Coats, R-Ind., talked with both Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman and Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Officer Norman Augustine to explain the committee's action, company and service sources said. Coats said the committee did not want to approve the entire amount because the F-22 program, which faces a $2 billion cost overrun in its current research phase, has not firmly defined how costs will be reduced. In another aircraft action, the House National Security Committee voted today to restore the full $2 billion in FY98 funding for the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 E/F, which the panel's Military Procurement Subcommittee had cut.
Meanwhile, the National Security Committee Wednesday approved a plan to bar cities from selling or leasing former military installations to foreign-owned shipping lines -- a victory for opponents of turning the closed Long Beach Naval Station into a terminal for a Chinese shipping company, the Los Angeles Times reported today.
The provision, which passed 29-24 as an amendment to the defense authorization bill, would make illegal the city of Long Beach's plan to build a cargo terminal on the site and lease it to the Beijing-based China Ocean Shipping Co.
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