THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060865
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
The Pentagon is considering the quick purchase of a digital flight control system that could reduce the potential for crashes in the Navy's troubled fleet of F-14 fighter jets, Defense Secretary William J. Perry said Tuesday.
Perry told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Navy and the Defense Department will make a decision soon about the system, which a Navy official said could be installed in about 210 of the planes at an estimated cost of $80 million.
The system works on the plane's controls in the same way a governor works on an engine, said the official, who spoke on the condition he remain anonymous. ``If you're doing something that's going to put you outside the edge of the (performance) envelope, this stops you,'' he said.
Lt. Conrad Chun, a Navy spokesman, said the service has extensively tested a system manufactured by GEC Marconi, a British firm.
The Navy has 337 F-14s, but is gradually retiring the planes from service. The new controls would be installed only on those jets which are expected to be around for a significant period, the official said.
Three F-14s have crashed this year, resulting in the deaths of four naval aviators and three civilians. The Navy last month imposed restrictions on pilots flying the jets at low altitudes while it continues to investigate the rash of mishaps.
All the F-14s lost so far this year were based at Miramar Naval Air Station near San Diego. Miramar's planes and crews are in the process of being transferred to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, where F-14s assigned to the Navy's Atlantic Fleet already are based.
The F-14 is considered the Navy's premier aerial dogfighter. Its engines have a reputation for stalling during some maneuvers, however, and the plane is considered particularly difficult to land on a carrier deck.
Virginia Sen. Charles S. Robb, who asked Perry about the digital control system during a hearing Tuesday, voiced concern that funds for it were not included in the 1997 defense budget proposal released this week.
``If we do these, we're going to do them this year,'' Perry replied, by reallocating funds in hand. A defense official later cautioned that installing the system would take time, suggesting that a $10 million expenditure this year probably would pay for as much work as GEC Marconi could perform before the budget cycle ends in September. Additional appropriations would be required in 1997.
Perry's comments came as he briefed senators on the military's $248 billion budget proposal for 1997. He defended the budget's $39 billion in hardware purchases as adequate, if Congress follows his blueprint for defense spending through 2001. That plan calls for increases in procurement to around $60 billion annually.
Perry offered Robb and Virginia's other senator, Republican John W. Warner, assurances that the Defense Department will address quickly the new budget's failure to provide funds for preliminary work on a new attack submarine that would be built at Newport News Shipbuilding beginning in 1999.
The yard needs about $500 million in the 1997 budget for purchase of a nuclear reactor and other ship components needed before actual construction begins. The Navy has promised to submit a plan by March 26 for juggling funds to keep the ship on schedule. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
William Perry
Graphic
MILITARY DOLLARS IN HAMPTON ROADS
The 1997 Defense Department budget plan includes a number of
items of particular interest to Hampton Roads. Among them:
$12.9 million for construction of a ``wargaming and research
center'' at the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk.
$25.3 million for construction of a ``controlled industrial
facility'' and upgrades to an existing maintenance facility at the
Norfolk Naval Station. The new shore facilities will be assigned
submarine and destroyer repair work now done by the destroyer tender
Shenandoah and the sub tender L.Y. Speer.
$8 million for alterations at the headquarters of the Air Force's
Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton and
improvements to a sanitary sewer system at the base.
$1.5 million for a jet fuel storage tank at Oceana Naval Air
Station in Virginia Beach.
$24 million for continued renovation work at Portsmouth Naval
Hospital.
$3 million for 20 new family housing units at the Navy's Wallops
Island missile center on the Eastern Shore.
$741,000 for a new community center at the Naval Security Group
Activity Northwest in Chesapeake.
KEYWORDS: DEFENSE BUDGET MILITARY BUDGET by CNB