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Technology Stocks : LOCKHEED MARTIN, (LMT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Llever who wrote (535)	4/19/1999 8:25:00 AM
From: Wally Mastroly	Respond to of 732

I believe Raytheon is the primary builder of most of the existing supply. Anyone know current the specific suppliers of the different types of Cruise missiles? Some recent developments: From the Wall street Journal: "NAVY FEARS CRUISE MISSILE SHORTAGE: Concern is deepening over the dwindling U.S. supply of cruise missiles, with the Navy fearing a shortage of usable sea-launched versions in the wake of stepped-up bombing campaigns. Senior Navy officials this week disclosed concerns similar to those also voiced by the Pentagon over the Air Force's shrinking cache of air-launched cruise missiles with nonnuclear warheads. Recent assaults on Yugoslavia and Iraq have left the Air Force with 100 to 150 of its air-launched versions, which are fired from B-52 bombers, the military has said. A Navy spokeswoman confirmed the concerns about the stockpile of 2,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles because of the age, readiness and kind at which Tomahawks are being fired; and the knowledge that upgraded, lower-cost "tactical" Tomahawks being developed by Raytheon Co. won't be available until 2003. Both the Navy and Air Force are pressing Congress for funds to replenish supplies until newer versions are available. The shortages reveal the risk of pursuing better and cheaper versions, instead of increasing supplies of existing models, said John Douglass, president of the Aerospace Industries Association. Limited funds have been devoted to readiness costs such as ship-steaming and airplane-flying hours, while weapons procurement has "suffered for a number of years," he said. Other factors in the shortage include Northrop Grumman Corp.'s troubled TriService Standoff Attack Missile, a radar evading cruise missile abandoned in 1995 by the Pentagon after consuming $3.4 billion in funding. Production of air-launched cruise missiles stopped in 1986, and supplies were boosted by having Boeing Co. convert nuclear-tipped versions into conventional ones. The conversion program ended in 1997. The Air Force wants to spend $51.5 million to restart Boeing's conversion of nuclear-tipped missiles, to deliver 92 with conventional warheads beginning in November 1999. A separate proposal would convert another 230 missiles. Under a $3 billion contract, Lockheed Martin Corp. is developing an advanced air-launched cruise missile called the Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile, or JASSM, for the Air Force. The 2,400 missiles ordered would feature satellite guidance for $700,000 each, a price tag the Air Force wants to trim. That compares with $1.5 million each for the converted nuclear versions. The Air Force declined to confirm reports the JASSM missile has a range of only a few hundred miles. Lockheed Martin says it has been asked to study longer-range variations. From the Washington Post: BOEING LOBBIES FOR CRUISE MISSILE SALES: War may be hell, but in Washington, it's also a lobbying opportunity. Boeing Co., joined by two Utah weapons makers, has seized on the conflict in Kosovo to lobby Congress and the Pentagon to restart mothballed assembly lines that once manufactured cruise missiles. The military brass prefers a different solution to the looming cruise missile shortage, but Boeing, which used to make the missiles for the Navy and Air Force, has jumped on the chance to get back in the game. The aggressive approach by Boeing and its lobbying comrades is unusual during wartime, when arms makers are generally sensitive to appearances and tend to wait until a conflict ends to engage in self-promotion. Boeing and its corporate allies -- Williams International Corp., builder of the missile's engine, and Litton Industries Inc., which designs its guidance system -- have a friend in Rep. Jim Hansen of Utah, where Williams and Litton have their factories.