UPDATE 1-Lockheed, Boeing warplanes get boost in US Congress

(Adds proposed cuts to Boeing/SAIC, Textron programs)

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - Big-ticket warplane programs run by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Boeing Co (BA.N) received a boost Wednesday as the 2009 military budget wended its way through the U.S. Congress.

A House of Representatives Armed Services subcommittee recommended $3.9 billion to buy 15 Boeing C-17 cargo planes, although the Bush administration sought none and the Senate Armed Services Committee did not fund any.

Likewise, the House's Air and Land Forces subcommittee recommended an additional $523 million as a down payment on 20 more Lockheed F-22 fighters in fiscal 2010.

The Bush administration had deferred decisions on both the C-17 and F-22 production lines, leaving the next president, to be elected Nov. 4 and take office in January, to decide their fate.

The military policy bill is to be debated by the full Armed Services Committee next Wednesday before it goes to a House vote. Then it must be reconciled with a companion measure in the Senate before it can be signed into law by the president.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie, the Hawaii Democrat who chairs the Air-Land subcommittee, said the recommendations were aimed at boosting congressional oversight of costly weapons programs.

TANKER

On the radar-evading F-22 fighter, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted last week to provide $497 million that could be used either to buy more aircraft or for shutting down the line.

The House Air-Land panel made no recommendation that would interfere with a $35 billion Air Force plan to acquire 179 aerial refueling aircraft built by Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and Airbus parent EADS (EAD.PA), rather than by Boeing.

The panel recommended cutting $200 million, or 5.5 percent, of the $3.6 billion sought by Bush for the Army's keystone Future Combat Systems. The $160 billion program is run by Boeing and Science Applications International Corp (SAI.N).

A key goal was to cut program management costs, Abercrombie said in a statement, part of what he termed an effort to shift funding to Army near-term needs. The Senate Armed Services Committee had supported the Army's request.

The House Air-Land panel also recommended cutting $166 million for the $5.4 billion Army's Armed ReconnaissanCe Helicopter program led by Textron Inc's (TXT.N) Bell Helicopter unit.

The subcommittee urged continued funding, of $526 million, for an alternate engine being developed for Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.

The engine is being co-developed by General Electric Co (GE.N) and Rolls-Royce Group Plc (RR.L) over Bush administration objections that it is unnecessary.