AMERICAN HEROES (House - November 19, 1993)

The F-16. The law will pay for 12 planes rather than the 24 requested by the administration. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ronald V. Dellums, D-Calif., said they will be the final 12 F-16s to join the Air Force.

Space systems. The law cancels the last planned Defense Support Program missile early-warning satellite and continues its replacement, the controversial Follow-on Early Warning System.

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From the Air Force Times, Nov. 22, 1993

Test of B-1B Demanded by Congress May Cripple Fleet

(By Steven Watkins)

Washington: Lawmakers plan to put the bedeviled B-1B Lancer to a test of its readiness, which could cripple much of the fleet in the process.

Eight-five of the heavy bombers, which have been haunted by funding and logistics woes, are operational at four Air Force bases.

Congress is ordering the test as it considers whether to fund a 10-year, $3.9 billion B-1B improvement program that will equip the planes with precision-guided weapons and a new radar jamming system to defend itself and buy logistics support equipment and spares that the Air Force needs to maintain the planes without expensive contractor support.

But before lawmakers decide to pay for the improvements, they want to know whether the plane will be ready for war if it gets all the maintenance equipment that is being asked for by the Air Force.

The 1994 defense authorization bill, a key step in the elaborate Department of Defense budget process, orders Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall to find out whether one wing of B-1B bombers can achieve the high readiness rates that are expected of the planes.

But carrying out the test may force readiness rates to fall for the rest of the B-1B fleet, a problem the bill acknowledges.

`The plan to concentrate the planned level of spare parts and other support at one wing will likely require some drawdown in the stocks at the other bases,' the bill says. `This, at a minimum, could further reduce readiness levels at nontest bases, and, at worst, affect aircrew proficiency at those bases.'

HOARDING PARTS

As part of the test, one squadron of B-1Bs would fly to a remote airfield to test the plane's ability to conduct numerous missions in a wartime setting. Lawmakers said they expect the six-month test to determine whether the Air Force's planned level of B-1B spares, logistics support equipment and maintenance staffing will prepare the plane to perform its `workhorse' bomber role in future wars.

The Air Force's goal is to have 75 percent of the B-1B fleet war-ready at any time.

Reacting to Air Force concerns that the test could `compromise national security' by ruining the readiness of the B-1B fleet, the lawmakers gave wide latitude to Widnall in forging the rules and timing of the test.

Widnall would be able to postpone the test if she judges that it cannot be conducted or continued without causing `unacceptable risk to the readiness or safety of those elements of the B-1 force not included in the test,' the bill says.

TEST CRITICAL

The test results will be critical in helping Congress decide whether to proceed with plans to improve and modernize the B-1B fleet, a Senate staffer said in a Nov. 5 interview.

The 10-year, $2.5 billion B-1B improvement program has increased to $3.9 billion, said congressional staffers familiar with the bill.

The B-1B has been a controversial plane in Congress. Its supporters hail the long-range bomber's agility and ability to deliver mass firepower while its detractors argue that the plane is plagued with faulty systems and requires expensive contractor-supplied maintenance and logistics support.

Supersecret--Company Claims Model Represents New Spy Plane, But the Air Force Says the Aircraft Does Not Exist

(By Vago Muradian)

Washington.--Does the Aurora exist?

The Air Force says no, but a manufacturer of model airplanes says yes and is selling Aurora kits for $10 to $30 each. The kits come in three versions.

`People always want to have things surrounded by mystery; `black' programs are always good (for model sales),' said John Andrews, division manager for plastic kits at Testor Corp., a Rockford, Ill.-based model maker. `Black' military programs are those that are developed in secrecy.

But the Air Force says it is in the dark on the Aurora.

`They (the model company) can call it anything that they want, but it is not modeled on anything that exists, or at least the Air Force has,' said Maj. Monica Alosio, an Air Force spokeswoman.

SUCCESSOR TO BLACKBIRD

To shed some light on the issue, the Aurora is an alleged secret project aimed at developing a successor to the SR-71 Blackbird, which completed its service in 1990.

But the Air Force says a successor to the Blackbird never will get off the ground.

`The Air Force has no follow-on to the SR-71 , and we do not own the name because we do not own the program,' Alosio said.

The flap over the Aurora started earlier this month when Testor officials unveiled a model of the alleged plane and launched a publicity campaign. Although the secret spy plane program is known as the Aurora, Testor is calling their rendition of the new spy plane the SR -75 Penetrator, which the company says can launch a smaller aircraft dubbed the XR-7 Thunder Dart.

Andrews makes no secret of the company's motives. Plastic model sales of military equipment have been down since the end of the Cold War, and the Aurora just may lift them, Andrews said.

HOPE FOR SALES

Testor officials hope the model will be as big a seller as their 1986 model of the F-117, which Testor then called the F-19 Stealth Fighter, which ranks as the best-selling model plane in history with combined sales of almost 1 million units. The Air Force did not officially acknowledge the existence of the F-117 until 1988.

But despite the profit motive, Andrews claims the Aurora is hardly a figment of his imagination.

`This is not out of imagination. . . . We get information from people who live in the desert and love airplanes,' Andrews said. `We get messages, phone calls and memos, and we also read the trade press and technological papers.'

He speculated that development of the aircraft probably began in 1983, with prototypes flying in 1987 and operational aircraft entering service around 1990.

SPECULATION SINCE 1986

In a telephone interview, retired Gen. Larry D. Welch, Air Force chief of staff from 1986 to 1990, said speculation over the Aurora's existence started in 1986 when `someone saw a name like [Aurora] in the budget.'

Welch said that Donald B. Rice, former Air Force secretary, publicly denied the existence of the Aurora in late 1992.

Andrews said unusual reconnaissance aircraft definitely exist even if they are not called the Aurora and have been sighted across the United States and around the world.

He said that on two visits to the Air Force' Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nev., he heard an engine undergoing tests that did not sound like any conventional jet engine.

Since entering the model kit design business in 1957, Andrews has developed accurate model versions of such aircraft as the U-2, the F-117 stealth fighter and the B-2 stealth bomber years before Air Force officials publicly acknowledged their existence.

In 1959 Andrews designed a model of the then-secret U-2 spy plane. Andrews submitted a version of his designs to Lockheed Corp., Calabasas, Calif, the builder of the U-2 which asked Andrews not to release the model kit.

`They said it would be better if I did not build it now,' Andrews said. `They treated me like a gentleman, and I chose not to do it until Gary Powers was shot down.'

Francis Gary Powers, a former Air Force first lieutenant employed by the government to fly the U-2, was shot down by Soviet air defense forces near Sverdlovsk in May 1960 while flying a reconnaissance mission.

[TIME: 2010]