Top Guns, Handguns and Raw Pork |

By Ed Magnuson

The Air Force loves its F-16 Falcon jet fighter. It is flying 1,225 of the supersonic aircraft, which are efficient in both aerial dogfights and attacking ground targets. An additional 1,299 of the proven planes, built in Fort Worth by General Dynamics, have been bought by 14 nations. So when the Air Force got set to buy 270 more Falcons, who could object?

Only, it seems, Northrop Chairman Thomas Jones, a handful of Congressmen from California, where Northrop is based, and some of Jones' influential friends in the Administration. Congress forced a yearlong simulated "fly- off" between the Falcon and Northrop's adequate but unexceptional F-20 Tigershark, which other nations have refused to buy. Last week the Air Force announced the unsurprising winner of the competition for the contract: a modified General Dynamics F-16.

The fly-off, which cost taxpayers millions of dollars, was a prime example of congressional intervention in arms purchases, based almost solely on parochial, pork-barrel politics. While Northrop supporters noted that the competition had forced General Dynamics to offer a streamlined F-16 at $3.5 million less than the normal $12.5 million, Northrop had gambled more than $1 billion on its F-20. Only three of the Tigersharks were built; two crashed during demonstration flights.

Yet another competitive fly-off has been inflicted on the Air Force, this time mainly by New York Congressmen and Senators. After lengthy study, the Air Force had decided it did not want to buy a new T-46A trainer, designed by Fairchild Republic at its development plant on New York's Long Island. The Air Force argued that it could save $2 billion by upgrading its current T-37 trainer, built by Cessna in Kansas, rather than buying 650 of the newer planes.

The Air Force's opinion did not deter the New York politicians from decrying the potential loss of 1,200 Long Island jobs and launching a "Save the T-46A" drive. The campaign climaxed in the Senate, where Republican Alphonse D'Amato and Democrat Daniel Moynihan teamed up to stage a 23 1/2-hr. filibuster in the closing days of the congressional session. They stalled passage of an omnibus spending bill long enough so that the Government began running out of funds and half a million federal workers had to be sent home. Their lost time cost taxpayers an estimated $62 million. But the tactic worked: Congress decreed that the Fairchild aircraft should be given another - year to try to beat out the Cessna.

No weapon, apparently, is too small for congressional scrutiny. Take the Army's venerable Colt .45 handgun, widely used since 1911. Searching for a modernized replacement, the Army settled on the 9-mm Italian-made Beretta. It did so after extensively testing other handguns, including those made by Smith & Wesson, based in Springfield, Mass. One Smith & Wesson model broke down before firing 5,000 rounds, while another cracked at 7,000. By contrast, the Beretta triggered 8,800 rounds without a mishap. After the Army signed a contract for 300,000 Berettas, which would be produced at the company's Accokeek, Md., plant for $75 million, Massachusetts Congressmen, including Democrat Edward Boland and Republican Silvio Conte, sought to reopen bids for a second batch of pistols, this time for 206,000. Congress compromised, forcing the Army to test the Smith & Wesson yet again.

If the Massachusetts firm beats out the Beretta for this contract, the Army would wind up with two incompatible handguns. "It's absolutely ridiculous," contends an aide to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Les Aspin. "It's the rawest of pork."

With reporting by Bruce van Voorst/Washington