Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 4, 1991 TAG: 9103040230
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The House Government Operations Committee said in a report released Sunday that the B-1's fully mission-capable rate is zero due to the absence of the radar system and other computer problems.
The panel, which is scheduled to hold a hearing this week on the problem-plagued plane, said the lack of a de-icing system also prohibits using the B-1 in certain weather conditions.
"The B-1 was to fill the void between our aging B-52s and the unneeded, next-generation stealth bomber, but appears to be a $30 billion missing link," said the committee's chairman, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.
The findings come on the heels of a recent two-month grounding of the fleet of 97 planes after two incidents in which fan blades broke and disabled B-1 engines. An engine fell to the ground in one of the incidents.
Since the planes came into service in 1986 at a cost of $280 million each, they have been plagued with a series of problems and were conspicuous by their absence in the allied air war against Iraq.
An Air Force spokesman said the committee's allegations have long since been resolved. "I don't know where he's getting that from," Air Force Maj. Dick Cole said of Conyers' conclusions.
Cole said the B-1 has a mission capability in the 70 percent range and is improving. And the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said several years ago that de-icing on the plane is not a problem, he said.
However, he acknowledged that the absence of radar-jamming capability and the engine difficulties remain problems. "Once we've got those two nailed, we've got it knocked," Cole said.
Air Force Secretary Donald Rice last week announced the cancellation of a contract for electronic countermeasures - a sophisticated system to jam enemy radar - for the B-1 because of congressional changes in the Pentagon's budget request.
Pentagon officials also blame a halt in funds by Congress for delaying an anti-icing system for the B-1, saying its development is continuing only because the Air Force is using funds for other programs for it.
Rice told a congressional committee last week that the service believes a couple of years and more than $10 million will solve the problem of blades breaking off the engine's front fan.
In the interim, the Air Force has come up with a stronger retaining ring to keep the fan in place if a single blade is lost. As a result, the Air Force on Feb. 6 lifted the ban it imposed in late December on B-1 flights.
by CNB