AEROSPACE & DEFENSE

Northrop Steps Back From Joining Bid: Northrop Corp. backed away from joining a bid for the aircraft divisions of LTV Corp., saying it didn’t want to endanger its existing contract for the B-2 bomber. Northrop’s decision came on the eve of a bidding contest in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan for the LTV Defense & Aerospace Group. Judge Burton R. Lifland scheduled a hearing for this afternoon on the competing bids for the LTV units. Los Angeles-based Northrop had been meeting for several days with the Carlyle Group, a Washington investment banking group that has bid $120 million for LTV’s aircraft business. The Carlyle offer was part of a joint bid with Thomson, a French-owned defense and electronics conglomerate that bid $280 million for LTV’s missile division.