House Panel OKs 4 More B-2 Bombers

A House Armed Services subcommittee agreed Tuesday to grant President Bush’s request to build four more B-2 Stealth bombers, but it set stringent cost controls to make sure that the price tag doesn’t balloon further.

In recommendations for the fiscal 1993 defense authorization bill, the panel approved $4 billion in new spending toward the eventual purchase of up to 20 of the controversial California-made aircraft--rather than the 16 that Congress had set last year as a cap.

But it did so only on condition that the cost doesn’t exceed the Defense Department’s latest estimated price tag of $44.4 billion for the 20--meaning that if the cost increases beyond current projections, the Pentagon will have to settle for fewer planes.

The subcommittee’s decision was expected to be endorsed promptly by the full Armed Services Committee, which is scheduled to vote today on the defense authorization bill for fiscal 1993, which begins Oct. 1.

The panel’s recommendation would authorize $4 billion for the B-2 program in fiscal 1993--$2.7 billion for actual procurement and $1.3 billion for research and development. The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to approve similar figures next month.

The subcommittee’s decision appeared to be a compromise between complaints by critics that the B-2 is unnecessary and becoming overly costly, and growing concern in Congress that cutting defense programs too sharply might worsen unemployment.

Northrop already has announced that it will lay off 1,500 of its 13,000 B-2 workers by the end of this year, and has indicated that further cutbacks are likely. The company initially had expected to build 132 B-2s, but the total later was slashed to 16.

It wasn’t immediately clear what effect the added funds would have on jobs. Although Northrop isn’t expected to reverse any of the 1,500 announced layoffs, a spokesman said the increase could reduce the size of future cutbacks. The B-2 program now employs 12,000.