House Panel Votes to Keep B-2 Production Lines Open : Aerospace: Authorization bill provides $553 million for two additional bombers. The move could save 10,000 jobs.

A House subcommittee voted Tuesday to keep production lines open for the possible purchase of more B-2 bombers--a move that eventually could save about 10,000 aerospace jobs in Southern California.

The subcommittee on military procurement recommended providing $553 million for construction of two additional B-2s as a down payment on a broader plan to buy as many as 20 more of the bombers over the next decade.

The program, which had been expected to die by 1998, has been operating under a cloud of uncertainty. The Pentagon already has contracted for the first batch of 20 bombers, but has said that it does not have the money to buy more.

A recent Pentagon study concluded that there is no immediate need to buy additional B-2s but, after criticism, the Defense Department has said that it will study the matter further. Northrop Grumman, builder of the aircraft, has been lobbying heavily for additional sales.

The action does not necessarily guarantee that the Pentagon will buy another 20 of the bombers. Despite the initial vote on Tuesday, the program faces at least eight more major votes in coming months in both the House and the Senate.

The B-2 will face particularly tough opposition on the House floor next month, where the unlikely team of Rep. John R. Kasich (R-Ohio) and Rep. Ronald V. Dellums (D-Oakland) are expected to attempt to kill it. But B-2 proponents believe they have the votes to prevail. The subcommittee action came as Republicans began moving on a major overhaul of the defense budget that would boost military spending by $9.5 billion over what President Clinton has requested and provide more for readiness, modernization and missile defense.

In a prelude to action today by the House National Security Committee, the subcommittee also killed funds for a third Seawolf submarine, which Clinton had sought to fund to preserve defense jobs in Connecticut, and while another subcommittee added $403 million to speed development of a national anti-missile system.

The full committee is scheduled to begin voting this morning on a $267-billion defense authorization bill that would incorporate those decisions and take steps to alter dozens of other proposals that the Clinton budget contains.

Among proposed changes, the legislation would:

* Add $6 billion to the Pentagon budget for weapons modernization, including $2.4 billion to buy eight C-17 cargo planes and a Boeing 747 transport and $425 million to buy six Air Force F-15 fighters and six F-16s. The C-17 program supports 5,100 jobs in Long Beach.

* Mandate sweeping reforms in the Pentagon’s procurement procedures, setting up pilot projects to experiment with having commercial firms take over inventory and payroll tasks now carried out by the government and cutting thousands of Defense Department jobs.

The Republican package is expected to draw stiff opposition from the Administration, which wants to cut defense spending next year to make room for projected domestic outlays.