ATF Funding Faces Cut : Defense Firms Plan to Team for Fighter Job

Just as Congress is preparing to slash the budget for the Air Force’s new advanced tactical fighter (ATF), the aircraft industry is scrambling to form teams to compete for contracts to develop the plane.

The House Armed Services Committee voted in closed session late last week to require the Air Force to eliminate three of its six tactical aircraft development programs and to reduce overall spending on tactical aircraft in fiscal 1987 by one-third.

All funding for the ATF was taken out of the 1987 authorization, though it may later be restored at a reduced level, according to Anthony Battista, a key staff member of the committee.

The ATF is the Air Force’s last major fighter program for the rest of this century and the industry has counted on the program to pick up slack from programs that will expire in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Estimates of the ATF program’s cost begin at $40 billion to $50 billion in 1985 dollars, based on a cost per plane of $35 million. ATF research and development is projected to cost $10 billion; spare parts, training and simulators may cost at least another $10 billon.

Plans Fewer Planes

Some critics of the ATF contend that the aircraft continues the Air Force trend of purchasing ever-more-expensive aircraft that result in spreading its forces too thinly. The service expects to buy only 750 of the aircraft over 10 to 15 years, compared to the 2,800 F-16s and 1,286 F-15s the Air Force is buying.

The action to cut back ATF funding was taken by the subcommittee for research and development and was confirmed in a key vote of the full committee, an indication that the ATF program may be in serious trouble.

“We looked at the Air Force’s tactical fighter road map and, with Gramm-Rudman (the federal budget-balancing law), there is no way they are going to get where they want to go,” Battista said. “I am sure ATF funding will be reduced.”

Air Force Col. Albert Piccirillo, ATF program director, agreed. “It is inevitable,” Piccirillo said in a telephone interview.

But steep funding increases would be required for the ATF to remain on track. The Air Force is requesting $294.1 million for fiscal 1987, $553 million in 1988, $729 million in 1989 and $1.12 billion in 1990, according to Piccirillo.

Meanwhile, Boeing, Lockheed and General Dynamics announced Tuesday that they had formed a team to jointly pursue the program. In addition, McDonnell Douglas and Northrop said Tuesday that they are holding “serious discussions” on forming a team.

Urged by Air Force

The Air Force has urged the industry to form competitive teams for the ATF, both to improve technology and to spread the financial burden.

But some industry officials question the importance of such team formation before the Air Force even selects the two prime contractors, who will then build prototypes.

Seven airframe companies are scheduled to submit their ATF technical design bids to the Air Force on July 28 and their cost estimates on Aug. 7.

“We expect the teaming to occur after the source (prime contractor) selection is made,” Piccirillo said. “We don’t expect anybody to withdraw their proposal.”

One veteran aerospace executive said he believes that the formation of teams before the Air Force’s selection of winning bidders is a serious mistake. “Since you don’t know whose design is going to win,” he said, “you might end up with a team of all catchers and no pitchers.”

Moreover, the teams could easily come apart, the official said. If two members of the same team are selected as prime contractors, then the team agreement would have to be dissolved.