Feds, Defense Contractors End 25-Year Litigation Saga

The U.S. government and the developers of the A-12 stealth attack plane have finally settled a legal entanglement that dragged on for nearly 25 years. On Jan. 7, 1991 the Pentagon shut down the $4.8 billion fixed-price contract to build A-12 planes for the Navy, after then-defense secretary Dick Cheney learned the schedule and cost of the program was not being reported accurately. The contractors sued, claiming that Cheney’s decision to cancel was illegal since the Navy signed the contract, thus beginning a saga of five trials, one before the Supreme Court. The final settlement: for the government, effectively a coupon for $400 million in military weaponry that it  was already planning to buy.