May 20, 1991

IS LOCKHEED CORP. WORKING ON A NEW TOP SECRET, STEALTH PLANE?

Experts cite military need and hidden defense budget.

By CHIP JACOBS AND TIM DEADY

Staff Reporters

Lockheed Corp., the defense contractor with a 30-year track record building high-altitude spy planes, could be at work on a new, stealth reconnaissance plane, industry and defense experts said last week.

The Calabasas-based company could be developing the plane -- tentatively dubbed the "Aurora Project" -- at its Skunk Works research had development facilities in Burbank or Palmdale. Experts say the plane is intended to replace Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird, the reconnaissance aircraft retired by the Air Force in 1990 after 24 years of service.

The highly secret Aurora program, if it indeed exists, would be funded through the Defense Department's classified "black budget," which is hidden from public scrutiny. At stake for Lockheed could be billions of dollars in revenues in revenues and hundreds of Southern California jobs.

"There is a high degree of likelihood that Lockheed is developing, and has been developing for some time, a high-altitude aircraft," said Lawrence Harris, a leading defense industry analyst with Kemper Securities Group in Chicago.

Neither the Pentagon nor Lockheed would comment on the possibility of a new generation, long-range reconnaissance plane.

Nevertheless, there are compelling reasons that prompt industry and military budget experts to say Lockheed is designing the aircraft. Chief among them are the government's faith in Lockheed's management, the strategic military need for spy planes and mysterious budget items.

Much of the speculation can be traced to the 1986 and 1987 Department of Defense budgets, which carried line items marked Aurora, according to Tim Weiner, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of a book on the Pentagon's black budget.

In 1986, the Aurora project had an $80 million allocation and the following year $2.3 billion was budgeted, according to Weiner. In 1988, Aurora disappeared from the military budget, which now totals about $274 billion. Historically, 10 percent of Pentagon's spending plan is earmarked for "black" programs.

Conjecture also surrounds unidentified "other" items in Lockheed's own budget.

Lockheed, in its 1990 annual report, reported that its aeronautical systems division took in $967 million in "other" revenues. In 1989, the company received $983 million in "other" revenues; in 1988, the listed figure was $882 million. In 1987 and 1988, the company disclosed "other" revenue totaling more than $1.9 billion.

In 1990, Lockheed had total sales of almost $10 billion, 75 percent of which came from the U.S. military. Lockheed spokesman Scott Hallman said most of the revenues listed under the "other" category were from the company's C-130 (cargo plane) program. But Hallman acknowledged that revenues for the secret SR-71 project had been listed in the "other aircraft and support" category during its development.

Also, Harris, of Kemper Securities, said he has done a breakdown of the aeronautical division's unidentified revenues and found "unexplained components." He said "unexplained components" totalled $25 million in 1987, $150 million in 1988, $325 million in 1989 and $425 million last year.

Another factor supporting Lockheed's Aurora involvement is its success on similar projects and its current standing as a military contractor.

Just last month, Lockheed led a team of companies that won a hotly contested contract from the Air Force to produce a new-generation advanced tactical fighter jet -- a deal that could be worth up to $95 billion in new business for the companies. Components for that plane were made and tested at Skunk Works.

In addition to the SR-71 and the famed U-2, the Skunk Works developed the TR-1, another high-altitude reconnaissance plane. All of those aircraft, built in secret during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, were completed close to schedule and budget, Lockheed officials like to boast.

One of the Skunk Works' more recent secret projects was the F-117 Stealth Fighter, the $42.6-million-a-copy aircraft credited with helping the Allied Forces score a quick victory in the Persian Gulf War. Lockheed was able to keep the F-117 secret for about 10 years -- including seven years of flight testing -- before the Air Force acknowledged its existence several years ago.

Another reason Aurora may be in the works are the constraints that even advanced satellites have in tracking military movements. Though state-of-the-art satellites have tremendous photographic range and can see through clouds, defense analysts note they are extremely expensive, hard to maneuver and follow a predictable trajectory.

"I don't believe the Air Force would so readily give up the SR-71 if they didn't have something better in place," said defense analyst Kevin Pedraja, of the non-profit Business Executives for National Security in Washington, D.C. "The defense cuts are a big problem but strategic reconnaissance has always been a high priority issue no matter how much the budget is cut."

The Pentagon has acknowledged that modernized versions of both the U-2 and TR-1 performed surveillance duties during the Iraq war, though details are sketchy.

John Pike, director of space policy for the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, and a noted authority on secret military programs, said "a case could be made" that Lockheed is doing work on a newer, swifter version of the SR-71 that can elude high-altitude missiles.

"The standard story on Aurora is that it's an airplane that is flying or will be doing so shortly. My gut feeling is there is no such plane," Pike said. "On the other hand, there is clearly some research on it. Part of the case for Lockheed's work on Aurora is that if they aren't working on it in Skunk Works, what are they working on?"

One reason the Aurora project is so hard to gauge, Pike said, is the Pentagon's insistence in the late 1980s that there would be no new plane to replace the SR-71; costs for that plane were never disclosed.

Jeffrey Richelson, author of numerous books on U.S. intelligence and espionage activities, said plans to build a successor to the SR-71 were advanced by Lockheed but then scrapped in the mid-1980s by the Defense Department, perhaps because of U.S.-Soviet rapprochement and budget pressures.

"Retiring the SR-71 was a mistake, but my best guess is that there isn't anything immediately coming down the pipeline," Richelson said.

Should Lockheed be at work on Aurora, most likely on a long-term research and development contract with the government, it could be teaming up with Seattle-based Boeing Co., Pike said. Boeing declined to comment but the company is a partner with Lockheed on the advanced tactical fighter project.

In addition, Boeing developed in the 1980s, at its own cost, a high-altitude, long-range, reconnaissance aircraft called Condor. A Boeing spokesman said the military has indicated it may be interested in moving that aircraft into development.

According to a November 1988 New York Times article, the Aurora would have capabilities greater than those of the SR-71, which still holds a variety of speed and endurance records and could photograph a 100,000-square-mile area in one hour.

The Aurora would be able to fly at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet with a speed of 3,800 miles an hour, or fives times the speed of sound. The SR-71 -- which photographed U.S. bombing targets for the 1986 raid on Libya and the 1983 Grenada invasion -- could fly at 80,000 feet at three times the speed of sound.

Like the SR-71, the new plane would probably be based at Beale Air Force Base in Northern California or at "forward" positions in England and Japan. Unlike the Sr-71 or the older generation U-2, however, the Aurora would be capable of mid-air refueling, giving it a much wider range. Some of the same stealth technology used in the B-2 bomber and the F-117, like the use of radar-absorbing services, would be built for the Aurora, the article said.

copyright Los Angeles Business Journal

Money Train, published in Los Angeles City Beat. Why would U.S. Congressman Ernest Istook from Oklahoma come to Los Angeles to raise money? Perhaps because he holds the purse strings to critical federal transportation dollars.
March 10, 2005

MOVING DOWN THE ROAD, Pasadena Weekly
http://chipjacobs.com/a_movingdown.html
Moving Down the Road, published in the Pasadena Weekly. The Caltrans 700,000 square-foot tower owes its existence to the 1994 Northridge earthquake, union muscle, and a tincture of politics.
July 10, 2003

TUNNEL VISIONS, Pasadena Weekly, Caltrans Tenants Association
http://www.caltranstenants.com/tunnel.html
Tunnel Visions, published in Pasadena Weekly. Caltrans may dig deep to find a way out of its 710 Freeway debacle.
(Part III of Corridor of Shame series)
May 22, 2003

THE UNTOUCHABLES, Pasadena Weekly, Caltrans Tenants Association
http://www.caltranstenants.com/slumlord.html
The Untouchables, published in Pasadena Weekly. Slumlord Caltrans uses legal immunity to hold tenants and the cities of Los Angeles, Pasadena, and South Pasadena at bay, as long-needed repairs to homes the agency owns along the proposed 710 Freeway route fester. (Part II of Corridor of Shame series)
May 15, 2003

NO EXIT, Pasadena Weekly
http://chipjacobs.com/a_noexit.html
No Exit, published in Pasadena Weekly. Once stately properties that Caltrans bought 30 years ago to complete the still unfinished Long Beach 710 Freeway stand as a testament of neglect by one of the most powerful agencies in California. (Part I of Corridor of Shame series)
May 8, 2003

SOME MTA DRIVERS GET PHYSICAL, Daily News of Los Angeles
http://chipjacobs.com/a_mtadriversphys.html
Some MTA Drivers Get Physical, published in Daily News Los Angeles. Attacks on Metropolitan Transportation Agency riders not always punished and nearly 20 cases remain unsolved or lost due to poor record keeping.
June 24, 1996

SUBWAY TUNNEL WALLS AT RISK, REPORT WARNS, Daily News of Los Angeles
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/subwaytunnelwallsatrsk1.pdf
Subway Tunnel Walls at Risk, Report Warns, published in Daily News Los Angeles. Just three years after the first segment of the Metro Red Line was opened at a cost of $1.45 billion, the Army Corps of Engineers says the subway’s concrete walls are at risk of being eaten away by chemical-laced ground water.  MTA officials say water-damage threat small. 
April 11, 1996

MTA SPENT BIG TO SUGARCOAT TUNNELING, Daily News of Los Angeles
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/mtaspentbig1.pdf
MTA Spent Big to Sugarcoat Tunneling, published in Daily News Los Angeles. During the 1994 holiday season, the Metropolitan Transportation Agency spent about $400,000 in public funds to bring a Yule-tide bonanza to Hollywood boulevard. Opponents say humbug to mitigation efforts, labeling it as pork barrel or misguided.
September 24, 1995

HOMES OWNED BY CALTRANS NOT KEPT UP, RECORDS SHOW, The Los Angeles Times
http://chipjacobs.com/a_homesowned.html
Homes Owned by CalTrans Not Kept Up, Records Show, published in The Los Angeles Times. Dozens of homes the state acquired along the un-built Long Beach (710) Freeway pathway sit in such disrepair they either can’t be leased or whip up renters’ complaints about slumlord practices. Twenty-seven homes still part of the holdings are not even needed to construct the long-delayed project. Caltrans defends maintenance.
April 26, 1995

CALTRANS MISSED SAFETY DEADLINE, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/caltransmissed1.pdf
CalTrans Missed Safety Deadline, published in  the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Despite a legally etched state deadline, Caltrans missed a key deadline to strengthen more than 1000 freeway bridges, including most of the structures crippled in the Northridge earthquake. Bridge contracts overdue.
February 4, 1994

PROBLEMS PILE UP ALONG METRO LINE, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/problemspileupmetro1.pdf
Problems Pile up Along Metro Line, published in San Gabriel Valley Tribune. First came the charges of shoddy construction. Then the claims of massive cost overruns.  Now more troubles are brewing for Los Angeles’ new subway:  wage violations against workers actually building the Metro Red Line.
October 16, 1993

FREEWAY WORK: A PERILOUS PAYCHECK, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
http://chipjacobs.com/pdfs/freewayworkperilouspaycheck1.pdf
Freeway Work: A Perilous Paycheck, published in San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Caltrans workers face death everyday and Caltrans needs to further protect its exposed maintenance crew.
Sept. 4, 1993

TRANSIT COMMISSION AUDITORS CAST EAGLE EYE ON TUTOR’S COSTS, Los Angeles Business Journal
http://chipjacobs.com/a_transit.html
Transit commission Auditors Cast Eagle Eye on Tutor’s Costs, published in Los Angeles Business Journal. Los Angeles County Transportation Commission auditors are questioning tens of thousands of dollars in overhead expenses that powerhouse Metro Rail contractor Tutor-Saliba Corp. submitted two years ago, according to a preliminary audit obtained by the Business Journal.
September 28, 1992

METRO RAIL COST-OVERRUN TAB ADDS TO CITY HALL FISCAL WOES, Los Angeles Business Journal
http://chipjacobs.com/a_metrorail.htm
Metro Rail Cost-Overrun Tab adds to the City Hall Fiscal Woes, published in Los Angeles Business Journal. The City of Los Angeles is on the hook to pay $100 million in Metro Rail Red Line construction overruns under a little-known cost-sharing deal with the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.
March 16, 1992

Title: The man
URL: http://www.chipjacobs.com/wd_theman.html

Almost broke, living on handouts with his mom in a shabby apartment outside post-war Los Angeles, Gordon Zahler, a paralyzed kid in his mid-twenties got an idea. He'd re-sell the music of a dead man -- the music his father, Lee Zahler, composed during his workhorse career in early Hollywood. Within a few years, mother and son would be working for MGM on a Doris-Day romp and for Hollywood's most beloved hack, Ed Wood Jr., on Plan Nine from Outer Space. A decade later they had a house above the Sunset Strip in a comeback story too farfetched for any screenplay.