Lockheed, GD Teams Study Sale of F-16 Plant

FORT WORTH – Lockheed Corp. has appointed a team of employees to explore whether it should purchase General Dynamics Corp.’s Fort Worth-based tactical aircraft business, industry sources said.

Some Wall Street analysts have been anticipating that GD would sell its fighter aircraft operations as the value of the company's stock has climbed more than 85 percent since Jan. 1, closing yesterday at $97 a share.

GD Talking Sale of Fort Worth’s Largest Employer

FORT WORTH – General Dynamics Corp. is holding discussions with Boeing Co. and Lockheed Corp. about the sale of its 20,000-employee Fort Worth Division, high-ranking sources at GD and in the aerospace industry said.

Widely publicized for its role on the 1991 Gulf War, Lockheed’s F-117A stealth fighter was developed at the company’s secretive Skunk Works, then in Burbank, Calif.

Lockheed Chief Expects Jet Fighter Unit to Take Off

CALABASAS, Calif. – Daniel Tellep, chairman of Lockheed, talks about the company’s $1.5 billion purchase of a Texas jet fighter plant that many in the industry had slotted for certain closure.

GEN John P. Jumper, U.S. Air Forces in Europe commander, escorts President William Jefferson Clinton upon his arrival to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, May 5, 1999. The president visited several European air bases to thank the troops (not shown) for their support of NATO Operations Allied Force and Shining Hope.

Clinton Vows Support for New Air Force Fighter

WASHINGTON – President Clinton threw his support behind the F-22 Raptor yesterday, saying it would be a mistake for the United States to abandon plans to produce the next-generation stealth fighter, which has become a target of House budget-cutters.

Fort Worth-based American Airlines also urges parents to use child safety seats on its flights, but it guarantees a seat for a passenger younger than 2 only if a ticket is purchased. American will offer a free extra seat to travelers with children if a seat is vacant.

Buckle Up Baby on Flights, FAA Urges

WASHINGTON – The Federal Aviation Administration warned yesterday that children flying without assigned seats on airliners are especially prone to injury during periods of air turbulence.

The string of accidents began Oct. 22, when two F-16s collided in flight. One of the Fighting Falcons, flown by a student pilot, crashed and burned in the desert about 10 miles north of Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. The pilot ejected safely. The pilot of the other F-16 involved landed his plane and was not injured.

Faltering Falcon: F-16 Accident Rate Rises as Air Force Seeks Cause

WASHINGTON – The F-16 fighter has spent most of the decade flying difficult missions in the Persian Gulf and Bosnia, while compiling a solid safety record. But Air Force officials have become concerned that the F-16 or the engines are showing their age.

At stake is the Air Force's 21st-century strategy, which was to combine the supercharged and highly capable F-22 with the emerging joint strike fighter, an aircraft now in development that is expected to replace the F-16 as the Air Force's primary air-to-ground workhorse.

F-22 Overruns Create Odd Blend of Opponents

WASHINGTON – It used to be easy to tell the hawks from the doves on Capitol Hill, but the dogfight over Lockheed Martin’s prized F-22 Raptor has left even veteran budget watchers wondering where the battle lines are drawn.

The V-22, being produced by Bell and Boeing Helicopters of Ridley Township, Pa., can fly twice as fast and twice as far as conventional helicopters. It will cut in half the time Marines need to reach the shore from a ship and allow the dispatch of troops from a greater distance.

Marines Roll Out Newest Vehicles, Including V-22

QUANTICO, VA – Before a hangar full of Pentagon brass, politicians and defense industry executives, the Marine Corps showed off three of its newest vehicles yesterday, including Bell Helicopter Textron’s V-22 Osprey.

If GD sells all the assets it has put on the block, it will go from an $8.75 billion company (by 1991 sales) to a $6 billion company - if its remaining businesses continue at their current sales rate, which is unlikely in today's defense spending climate.

A Giant Holds on by Going to Pieces

FORT WORTH – When there was a Soviet Union, General Dynamics F-16s, Trident submarines, Abrams tanks and cruise missiles were major players in America’s defensive strategy against its superpower foe. Now that the Berlin Wall has crumbled, the Soviet Union is shattered and U.S. defense spending is being pared, GD is shrinking.

In November 1989, GD acknowledged that F-16 production had fallen as many as 20 planes behind schedule because of production problems. The problems cost GD millions of dollars in delayed government payments, contract adjustments and overtime pay.

Air Force Blasts GD for F-16 Production Woes

FORT WORTH – In a harshly worded letter to top management, the Air Force has asked General Dynamics Corp. to correct problems in F-16 production in Fort Worth that the government says could hinder the company’s efforts to keep building its primary jet fighter on schedule.

Winning On and Off the Field

IRVING – At the end of the 1988 NFL season, the Dallas Cowboys were looking at fourth and long without much time on the clock. The team had gone 3-13 and watched attendance drop for the fifth consecutive year. Then came Jerry Jones.

Yesterday's event in Texas Stadium drew more than 140 dealers from the Southwest region, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico.

Cadillac Sales Team has Touchdown Fever

IRVING – Joe Fetzer is no Jerry Jones, but the Cadillac executive stood on the 50-yard line at Texas Stadium yesterday hoping that the Dallas Cowboys’ recent success might rub off on the all-new 1993 Fleetwood.

GM Unveils Brougham at New York Auto Show

NEW YORK – General Motors’ Cadillac division introduced its new Brougham at the New York International Auto Show yesterday. The Arlington-built car is a longer, more powerful luxury sedan than the 1992 model.

The prospect of Supreme Court vacancies is worrying some conservatives, legal experts say, because Republican presidents appointed the three jurists who are considered most likely to retire – Rehnquist, 72; Stevens, 76; and O’Connor, 66.

Texans bought more than 621,000 light trucks in 1997, tops in the nation. Photo: Ford Motor Co.

Even the youngest of the U-2s is expected to have reached the end of its structural lifespan around 2020.

Lawmakers have been searching for ways to deal with the bills the Pentagon will face just after 2000 when it will attempt to produce three fighters at the same time, the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 stealth fighter and the F/A-18E/F. The combined cost of producing the Joint Strike Fighter and the other two planes has been estimated at $400 billion.

If GD sells all the assets it has put on the block, it will go from an $8.75 billion company (by 1991 sales) to a $6 billion company – if its remaining businesses continue at their current sales rate, which is unlikely in today’s defense spending climate.

Acme Brick Co.

The controversy is rooted in part in the high cost of launching multimillion-dollar satellites.

In November 1989, GD acknowledged that F-16 production had fallen as many as 20 planes behind schedule because of production problems. The problems cost GD millions of dollars in delayed government payments, contract adjustments and overtime pay. Photo: U.S. Air Force

The two defense companies said the Justice Department had informed them that it was “fundamentally opposed” to the merger.

Joint Strike Fighter. Photo: U.S. Air Force

The Air Force has begun to give all its personnel more time off after lengthy assignments abroad. For example, a 90-day stay in Bosnia will now earn a two-week vacation upon return. A 45-day deployment will result in a week off.

Satellite service providers such as DirecTV and EchoStar, the biggest satellite broadcasters, have tens of millions of subscribers across America.

While Ford, Chevy and GMC once ruled in full-size trucks, entries from Dodge and Toyota will fuel competition and maybe even force other companies to enter the battle. Photo: Chrysler/FCA

The Arlington and Willow Run plants, GM sources and analysts say, are the subject of an internal review at GM to find out which facility could end up producing the company’s full-size, rear-wheel-drive cars. Photo: General Motors Corp.

Emmitt Smith

Yesterday’s event in Texas Stadium drew more than 140 dealers from the Southwest region, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico. Photo: General Motors Corp.

Chevy Volt

To equal or surpass the F-22, the Russians would have had to have made significant advances in their fighter technology.

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