Turbulent Flight for the C-5B

In a fierce lobbying war, Lockheed shoots down a tough rival

Each morning in his office at the Pentagon, the Air Force general and his allies mapped out their strike plan. The target was not an enemy capital but Capitol Hill, and the battle was over which firm would land a multibillion-dollar contract for military cargo planes. The allies in this case were Lockheed executives working in tandem with the Pentagon to sell Congress the C-5B over its rival, Boeing's 747. In one of the fiercest and, some say, most shameless lobbying battles Congress has seen in decades, the issue of which plane was better often became obscured in partisan crossfire. The air war ended last week when the House, by a vote of 289 to 127, decided to spend $860 million to begin the purchase of 50 Lockheed C-5Bs rather than modified 747s.

The complicated quest for a cargo plane began last year, when a secret Pentagon study pinpointed a critical need for a plane able to carry outsize cargo, such as tanks and helicopters for the new Rapid Deployment Force. The Air Force already had 77 Lockheed C-5A Galaxies, a plane capable of handling large loads but with a checkered history of cost overruns and technical troubles. A design competition for a new carrier was won by McDonnell Douglas with a plane subsequently called the C-17. The Pentagon thus faced three options: to develop the C-17 (whose cost was never made public), to buy and convert new and used 747s for considerably less money (the new planes would cost $72 million each), or to build 50 of Lockheed's modernized C-5Bs (at a cost of $118 million each). Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger decided that the most sensible choice, both militarily and financially, was the C-5B.

Boeing's unexpected response was to challenge the judgment of the Pentagon, with whom it had some $2.7 billion in contracts, ranging from the cruise missile to AWACS planes. After the Defense Department rejected the company's argument that it would be more efficient for the Air Force to buy remodeled 747s, troops of Boeing lobbyists marched on Capitol Hill armed with charts, glossy photos and lavish brochures. Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Henry Jackson of Washington, Boeing's home state, strenuously campaigned for the company, asserting that the purchase of 747s "would assist the troubled airline industry." On May 13, the day the Senate voted on the defense authorization bill, Braniff declared bankruptcy. Looking to trim money from the military budget and to help distressed airlines, the Senate by voice vote approved Jackson's proposal to buy the 747s.