THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, April 22, 1996                 TAG: 9604220065
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Medium:   64 lines

GAO TELLS PENTAGON TO THINK ABOUT KILLING SUPER HORNET REPORT SAYS THE PROGRAM IS NOT WORTH NEARLY $17 BILLION THAT WOULD BE SAVED.

Congress' investigative agency has recommended that the Defense Department consider canceling its most expensive weapons program, the $81 billion FA-18 Super Hornet, the next generation of the Navy's top fighter, a magazine reports.

In excerpts of a draft report obtained by Defense Week, the General Accounting Office says the Pentagon could save nearly $17 billion by canceling the program and upgrading the Hornet, the current version of the fighter now in final production.

The report said the stealth improvements achieved in the Super Hornet have been ``questionable,'' according to Defense Week's April 22 issue.

Furthermore, Hornet operational deficiencies that the Navy cited in justifying the Super Hornet ``either have not materialized as projected or can be corrected with nonstructural changes.''

Over the long term, the Navy may reap greater benefits at a lower cost with the next generation of the Joint Strike Fighter, which is still on the drawing board, the report said.

Forty copies of the draft report were circulated at the Pentagon last week, Defense Week said.

It is expected to spark more debate over whether the government can afford the Air Force's and the Navy's future warplane fleet - the Super Hornet, the $70 billion F-22 fighter program and the Joint Strike Fighter. One contractor has estimated that the Joint Strike Fighter program of 3,000 planes could cost as much as $1 trillion over its life for research, manufacture, operation and support.

The report already has drawn criticism from Congress. The weapons program has strong political support from lawmakers representing Missouri and California, where the airplane is made, Defense Week said.

The Navy already has spent $3.75 billion on the development phase of the Super Hornet. The Pentagon's next major decision is whether to go ahead with plans to order 1,000 of the aircraft - 660 for the Navy and 340 for the Marine Corps.

The GAO recommended buying 660 of the current-model Hornets for the Navy instead of the Super Hornet. The Marine Corps has said it does not intend to buy any Super Hornets at this point.

``Over the years, the Navy has improved the operational capabilities of the (Hornet) so that procuring the new model . . . aircraft is now not the most cost-effective approach to modernizing the Navy's tactical aircraft fleet,'' the GAO said. ``Additional upgrades, should they be needed in the midterm, could be made . . . which would further improve its capabilities.''

Suggested upgrades included the installation of a larger fuel tank for longer range and strengthening landing gears so that a plane can better return to a carrier with unused weapons.

While the Super Hornet will have increased range, that increase is achieved at the expense of its combat performance, the GAO said.

GAO investigators also said the estimated per-fighter cost of the Super Hornet, $44 million, is understated. That estimate is based on a total purchase of 1,000 aircraft. GAO calculations for 660 aircraft put the number at $53 million, the report said, compared to $28 million for the Hornet. by CNB