Senate OKs New Stealth Bombers : Defense: The 53-45 vote approves four more B-2 aircraft, creating a 20-plane fleet. Scaled-back program could mean layoffs for about 6,500 Southland workers.

WASHINGTON —  Ending a long struggle over Northrop Corp.’s B-2 bomber, the Senate on Friday approved President Bush’s request for a fleet of 20 of the Stealth aircraft, down from the 132 originally planned. The move could mean the loss of about 6,500 jobs in Southern California over the next few years.

Opponents of the bomber had been fighting to keep the number of the $2.2-billion planes to just 16, but Congress approved Bush’s request for an additional four planes, bringing the total cost of the program to $44.4 billion.

The Senate confronted the White House on another major issue, however, adding a nuclear test ban to the $274.5-billion defense bill. The ban could trigger a presidential veto, but the deal struck over the B-2 bomber is expected to remain intact.

Agreeing to fall in line with the House on the B-2 issue, the Senate rejected, 53 to 45, a bid by the program’s opponents to halt production at 16 bombers.

The vote to authorize another four of the radar-evading planes was widely expected, industry analysts said.

In late August, Northrop officials drafted a story for the company’s employee newsletter explaining that an order for 20 planes--including the additional four--would mean layoffs of 6,500 people, company spokesman Ed Smith confirmed Friday. That story was never printed because the company felt it could not be certain about the figure, he said.

Even on Friday, Smith would not confirm the 6,500 figure. “It could be 6,500, but it could be another number,” he said.

The B-2, the single largest military production program in California, accounts for about 13,000 jobs at Northrop facilities at Pico Rivera, Palmdale and Edwards Air Force Base. An additional 26,000 other jobs at vendors and subcontractors also depend on B-2 production.

Smith said the 20-plane fleet would allow production to continue through early 1997, with stable employment for the rest of this year.

A reduction of a few hundred jobs is still likely in 1993, however, followed by significant layoffs in the following two years, assuming a continuation of the trend toward reductions in defense spending, he said.

A congressional decision to halt production at 16 planes, the spokesman said, would have required considerably larger reductions in the Northrop work force at an earlier date.

Supporters said the B-2 would allow the United States to project its strength around the world because of the plane’s long range and unparalleled radar-evading skills.

While concurring with the President on the bomber, the Senate differed with Bush on another key issue, one that could disrupt a tidy completion of the defense bill. In a 55-40 vote, senators approved a nine-month nuclear test moratorium ending July 1 and a total ban after Sept. 30, 1996, unless another country conducts a nuclear test.

The House earlier had approved a one-year moratorium on nuclear tests if Bush certified that it would not endanger national security.

Supporters said the halt in nuclear testing is essential to persuade other nations not to develop nuclear arms, but the Pentagon insists that continued testing is crucial to assure the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney has said that he would urge the President to veto the entire defense spending bill if the test-ban provisions are included when the legislation reaches his desk.

But because Democratic congressional leaders have decided to avoiding further veto battles with the President so that lawmakers can adjourn next weekend, the nuclear testing provision could be altered by a Senate-House conference committee.

Even if a compromise is not worked out on the test ban, the B-2 deal is expected to remain unchanged.

Bush originally requested funds for 132 of the B-2 bombers, later lowered the request to 75 and then dropped it to 20 because of rising opposition in Congress and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton has also supported a 20-plane B-2 fleet. During the latest in a long series of Senate debates on the issue, Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, argued that only two B-2 bombers could have replaced all of the F-117 Stealth fighters in the Persian Gulf War.

“This is the low-risk route,” Nunn said.

Critics, however, contended that the B-2 could not be justified now that the Cold War is over and defense spending must be cut.

“The B-2 is nothing more than a white elephant,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chief opponent of the plane. “I believe in a strong defense, (but) I just don’t believe in wasting taxpayer money.”

California’s senators split on adding more B-2 aircraft. Republican Sen. John Seymour voted for the additional planes, and Democrat Alan Cranston voted to halt production at 16.

Votes on the defense authorization bill came as Congress drove toward its early adjournment, a month in advance of the Nov. 3 elections.

In other actions:

* The House and Senate, acting by voice vote, swiftly endorsed a record-setting $11.1-billion aid package for hurricane-damaged Florida, Louisiana and Hawaii as well as typhoon-hit Guam. The costliest disaster relief package in history, it includes $6.3 billion in spending and authorization for another $4.8 billion in loans and loan guarantees.

* The Senate approved a $245-billion appropriation bill for labor, education, health and human services programs for the year starting Oct. 1. Because the President objects to a provision for government funding of some abortions in cases of rape or incest, however, the bill could also trigger a veto. The legislation must go to a Senate-House conference committee to reconcile differences, and the abortion provision could be removed before final passage in both chambers.

Earlier, the Senate approved $3.8 billion for Bush’s Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars” project--$1.5 billion less than the President wanted. The vote was 52 to 46.

The defense authorization bill also includes $1.2 billion to help members of the armed services move into civilian jobs and defense industries convert to peacetime work as U.S. forces are reduced 25% over the next five years and military spending drops sharply.

The bill provides the entire $2.2-billion authorization that Bush sought for a future Air Force Stealth fighter plane, known as the F-22, but the Senate provided only $50 million for a Navy version of a Stealth fighter, now called the AX. Nunn has said that the nation will not be able to afford all the fighter planes now in the development stage.

But the Senate earmarked $755 million for the controversial V-22 Osprey, a tilt-rotor plane that Bush wants to eliminate. The V-22 is designed to climb vertically like a helicopter and then level off to fly like an airplane.

In another reduction from the President’s budget, the Senate bill would authorize $1.8 billion to buy six C-17 transport planes rather than $2.5 billion for the eight planes that Bush requested.

In another rebuff to Bush’s position, the Senate voted 55 to 36 to retain a provision that would allow women in the armed forces and military dependents to pay for and obtain abortions at overseas bases. The Pentagon has forbidden military hospitals to perform abortions unless the life of the mother is endangered.

Times staff writer Susan Moffat in Los Angeles contributed to this story.