Order for New Stealth Fighter Jet to Be Cut From 750 Planes to 650

The Pentagon has reduced its order for Advanced Tactical Fighters by 100 planes, with the 21st-Century aircraft now expected to cost a total of $95 billion, Air Force officials told Congress on Monday.

In a surprise announcement, the Air Force director of tactical programs said the pending cutback of overall military forces warranted reducing the ATF order to 650 planes.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney told Congress last April that the Pentagon would buy 750 of the next-generation Stealth fighter, designed to cruise at supersonic speeds and accelerate without using an afterburner.

In one of the fiercest competitions in military industry to date, two teams of aircraft builders are vying for the ATF order. One team is Lockheed, Boeing and General Dynamics; the other is Northrop and McDonnell Douglas.

The Pentagon said Monday that Air Force Secretary Donald Rice would name the winner of the contract at 4:30 p.m. EDT today, after the stock markets close.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Ralston told the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on conventional forces and alliance defense that a decision to reduce tactical fighter wings from 36 planes to 26 prompted the change in the ATF order.

The reduction means the total cost of the program will fall to $95 billion from about $110 billion, Ralston said. The cut, however, will force up the aircraft’s unit price, which could reach $108 million over the life of the program.

The first ATF is to be delivered in 2005.