June 17 (Bloomberg) -- Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-22 fighter program would continue in a congressional defense panel’s version of the U.S. military’s budget for fiscal 2010 that begins Oct. 1.

The measure approved by the House Armed Services Committee early today would use $369 million earmarked for cleaning up environmental hazards on military bases as a down-payment on 12 more F-22s than the 187 the Pentagon plans to order. It also added $603 million for a second engine on the Lockheed F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that the Pentagon doesn’t want.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates in April curtailed the F-22 fighter program at 187, denying the Air Force request to buy at least 60 more. Gates said the Pentagon would not buy the backup engine, which would be built by General Electric Co. and Rolls- Royce Group Plc.

The House panel is one of four committees that review the Pentagon’s budget, so it’s far from certain the additional F-22 money will survive.

Still, the panel’s action is the first congressional response to Gates’s budget and indicates his request won’t be rubber-stamped on Capitol Hill. The next test comes when the House panel’s counterpart in the Senate considers the budget next week.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, asked for a response to the House committee’s action, issued this statement: “Everybody knows where the secretary and the president stand on the F-22.”

$130 Billion for Wars

The two congressional panels that appropriate defense spending have not yet acted on the Pentagon’s budget. The $680.4 billion measure includes $130 billion to finance the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon since 2006 has refused to support building a backup engine for the F-35, saying it’s too expensive and unnecessary. Besides adding the $603 million, the panel included language directing the Pentagon to request funds for the program in future years as well.

Hartford, Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit makes the primary F-35 engine.

Aside from its decisions on the F-22 and the backup engine, the House panel left largely intact most of Gates’s major budget recommendations.

It approved the entire $6 billion requested to accelerate production of Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed’s F-35 program, while cutting two of the requested 30 aircraft.

Presidential Helicopter

The panel approved Gates’s decision to cancel the VH-71 presidential helicopter produced by Lockheed and subcontractor AgustaWestland, a unit of Finmeccanica SpA of Italy.

Still, the panel urged Gates to consider completing the purchase and upgrades of the first nine development-and-test helicopters “to ensure taxpayer dollars are not wasted.” The Navy has spent $3.2 billion on the program.

The panel also approved $2.45 billion -- or about $327 million less than requested -- to continue developing Chicago- based Boeing Co.’s Future Combat Systems.

The panel didn’t tinker with Gates’s decision to sever from this program the $87 billion project to build manned vehicles for the system because their design didn’t reflect the lessons learned from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gates said he would start a separate program; the Army hopes to field the vehicles within seven years.

The panel also approved the Pentagon’s request for $9.3 billion for missile defense that includes $7.8 billion for the Missile Defense Agency.

The panel endorsed Gates’s plan to deploy 30 instead of 44 interceptor missiles made by Chantilly, Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. The other 14 would be used for increased testing.

It also endorsed increased funding for Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon Co. Standard Missile-3 ship- launched interceptors, boosting the order to 329 from 113.

In addition, the inventory of Lockheed Martin’s Thaad missile interceptors for use by deployed troops would grow to 287 from 96 under the budget the House panel approved.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tony Capaccio at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 17, 2009 16:48 EDT