WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Air Force will have
to curtail its orders for Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35
fighter jet, restructure a $52 billion tanker deal with Boeing
Co and reduce its flying hours by 18 percent if lawmakers
do not avert impending across-the-board spending cuts, the
service told Congress on Wednesday.

The Air Force, in a draft presentation to Congress, said it
faced shortfalls of $1.8 billion in war funding and $12.4
billion overall if Congress does not forestall the cuts, known
as sequestration, which are due to take effect on March 1.

WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) – U.S. defense officials and
their allies in Congress did their best on Wednesday to create a
sense of crisis about steep impending budget cuts but their
warnings failed to produce any visible result.

Instead, partisan divisions over how to avoid the automatic
spending reductions set for March 1 hardened, with Democrats and
Republicans offering solutions that appeared irreconcilable and
trading accusations designed to shift the blame across the
aisle.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Air Force will have to curtail its orders for Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 fighter jet, restructure a $52 billion tanker contract with Boeing Co and reduce its flying hours by 18 percent if lawmakers do not avert impending across-the-board spending cuts, the service told Congress on Wednesday.

The Air Force, in a draft presentation to Congress, said it faced shortfalls of $1.8 billion in war funding and $12.4 billion overall if Congress does not forestall the cuts, known as sequestration, which are due to take effect on March 1.

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Huntington Ingalls Industries
Inc is actively pursuing infrastructure orders from the
oil and natural gas industry for its Avondale shipyard near New
Orleans, which had been slated to close at the end of 2013.

The shipbuilder for the U.S. Navy said on Tuesday it is
opening an office in Houston to chase orders and is in active
discussions with various companies in the oil and gas sector. It
plans advertisements in Gulf Coast newspapers on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. officials on Friday said they are making progress in their investigation of a battery fire on a Boeing Co (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 787 Dreamliner in Boston this month, as the grounding of Boeing’s entire fleet Of 787s stretched into a third week.

All 50 Boeing 787s remain grounded as authorities in the United States, Japan and France investigate the Boston battery fire on January 7 and a separate battery failure that forced a second 787 to make an emergency landing in Japan a week later.

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – The Pentagon is inspecting
other components of the F-35 fighter jet in addition to the
faulty fuel lines blamed for the grounding of the Marine Corps
version of the warplane, two sources familiar with the program
said on Friday.

Vice Admiral David Dunaway, head of Naval Air Systems
Command, asked for the expanded “material audit” this week after
being briefed on plans by the Pentagon’s F-35 program to resume
training and test flights of the F-35B, the sources said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – U.S. investigators on Friday
said they are moving ahead in their investigation of a battery
fire on a Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner in Boston this month,
as the grounding of Boeing’s entire fleet stretched into a third
week.

All 50 Boeing 787s remain grounded as authorities in the
United States, Japan and France investigate the Boston battery
fire on Jan. 7 and a separate battery failure that forced a
second 787 to make an emergency landing in Japan a week later.

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) – As U.S. budget pressures
mount, the U.S. Marine Corps says growing foreign demand could
help drive down the unit cost of its new upgraded H-1 utility
and attack helicopters built by Bell Helicopter, a unit of
Textron Inc.

Major General John Croley, assistant deputy commandant for
aviation, said the new helicopters had greater range and
capabilities that would enhance the Marines’ ability to work
with allies across the Asia-Pacific region.

WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. Air Force on
Wednesday said it hoped to deliver two C-130 transport planes to
Afghanistan by the end of 2013 and two more in 2014 after
deciding to end a deal with Italy’s Finmeccanica SpA
for 20 G222 cargo planes.

Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick said details were still being
worked out, but the Air Force was “aggressively pushing for
delivery of two C-130H models in late calendar year 2013 and two
additional ones before the end of calendar 2014.”

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

(Reuters) – U.S. weapons maker Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday but said sales and earnings would fall sharply in 2013, given the mounting pressure on the U.S. defense budget.

Northrop, which builds Global Hawk unmanned surveillance planes, radar and electronic systems for the U.S. military, said revenue fell in three of its four business areas in the fourth quarter, but aerospace systems saw a 7 percent rise due to increased demand for unmanned systems.