Air Force gives Congress $18.75 bln arms wish list

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force has sent lawmakers an $18.75 billion wish list of weapons systems it says it needs but could not include in the Pentagon's fiscal 2009 budget request, including some pricey aircraft programs.

The list, for instance, includes $3.9 billion to buy 15 Boeing Co (BA.N) C-17 transport planes, which would help keep the Boeing production line open beyond 2009, according to the document, which was obtained by Reuters late on Monday.

This year's list, first reported by the trade publication InsideDefense.com, is even bigger than last year's request of $17 billion, and comes close to the $20 billion that Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne says the service needs to modernize its aging fleet and buy aircraft in efficient quantities.

The list also includes $600 million for four Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) F-22 fighter jets beyond the 20 already included in the fiscal 2009 budget, plus $497 million in long-lead procurement funding to buy 24 more and maintain full rate production of the fighter jet in 2010.

The Air Force says it needs 381 of the radar-evading F-22 Raptors, but the Pentagon has capped the number at 183.

Lawmakers use the lists of "unfunded priorities", which are prepared by all the services, to help shape the final defense spending and appropriations bills, adding dozens of airplanes, ships and other weapons above the Pentagon's requests.

Congress has added 18 C-17s to the defense budget over the past two years, despite a Pentagon decision to cap production of the popular transport plane at 180.

The Air Force already has 170 C-17 transport planes and will get at least 28 more.

The Air Force's request for the additional 15 C-17s comes as the Pentagon's inspector general's office continues to examine whether the service wrongfully induced or encouraged Boeing to spend hundreds of millions of its own dollars to maintain suppliers for C-17 production, even though there are no military requirements on record for extra planes.

The investigation followed a request by Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee and the man whose dogged investigation helped kill in 2004 a $23.5 billion Air Force deal with Boeing for 100 767 aerial refueling tankers.

Air Force officials say the military will need more C-17s in coming years because some Lockheed C-5 cargo planes are too old to be upgraded.

Pentagon arms chief John Young is currently reviewing a Lockheed program to upgrade engines on all 108 aging C-5 cargo airplanes after the cost soared to $17.5 billion from an initial estimate of $11.1 billion. That increase triggered a congressionally mandated review under the Nunn-McCurdy law.

The Air Force wish list also includes $576 million for eight more Lockheed C-130J transport planes, $761 million for five additional F-35 fighter jets, also built by Lockheed, and $67 million for advanced procurement costs to increase the number of F-35s to built in fiscal 2010 to 18 from 12.

The list also includes $300 million in funding for an unidentified classified program, $82 million for one V-22 Osprey built by Boeing and Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron (TXT.N); and $74.8 million for two extra C-27 Joint Cargo Aircraft being built by L-3 Communications Holdings (LLL.N).

The list also includes nearly $1 billion for contractor logistics support to cover maintenance. The Air Force said the extra funding would reduce stress on Air Force personnel and minimize risks linked to possible aircraft groundings. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; editing by Carol Bishopric)