Defense Merger Takes Flak

WASHINGTON – Officials from Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman said yesterday they expected the Justice Department to attempt to block a $12 billion merger of the defense companies if antitrust concerns cannot be resolved.

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

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

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.

Emmitt Smith

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Acme Brick Co.

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Defense Merger Takes Flak