U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is pushing to include more than $30 million in the fiscal 2004 defense appropriations bill to fix cracks in the tail deck of the B-2 stealth bomber, Inside the Air Force reported today (see GSN, June 4).

“It’s a real problem that has to be fixed,” Feinstein said during the July 8 Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee markup of the 2004 spending bill.  Defense contractor Northrop Grumman, which does repair work on the B-2s, reportedly lobbied Feinstein to add the funding.

The House Appropriations Committee included $27 million for aft deck modifications in its version of the bill, but the Senate did not include funding.  Feinstein is campaigning for the $27 million and another $3.8 million for Northrop Grumman to develop a long-term solution to the problem, according to Inside the Air Force.

The cracking “is not a safety-of-flight issue,” according to Jim Hart, spokesman for Northrop Grumman’s Integrated Systems division.  Air Force officials said, however, that the B-2’s performance could be affected.

“Without intervention, cracks in the aft deck’s skin may propagate to the point of affecting the stealthiness of the B-2,” the Air Combat Command said in a statement (Hampton Stephens, Inside the Air Force, July 11).

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