Contractors Win Stay in A-12 Fighter Case

Defense contractors Boeing Co. and General Dynamics Corp. said a federal appeals court blocked the Defense Department from collecting $2.3 billion it claims the two companies owe for a scrapped Navy fighter program.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims issued a stay of its August 2001 decision, saying immediate collection of the money is not in the national interest.

The Defense Department won an earlier court decision awarding damages over the radar-evading A-12, which it canceled for cost overruns and nonperformance in 1991. The Pentagon last week said it would begin deducting the $2.3 billion from existing contracts with Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics and Chicago-based Boeing.