Heavy Losses Of Fill Predicted

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31986, 13 May 1969, Page 17

Heavy Losses Of Fill Predicted

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright)

WASHINGTON, May 12.

A defence official’s forecast that a new version of the Fill would suffer a high loss rate because of inadequate research, today added a new chapter to the plane’s controversial history.

The forecast was made by a Defence Department official in a, long and detailed memorandum on the soaring production costs of the Fill swing-wing fighter-bomber. The “Washington Post.” which did not name the offi-

cial in publishing his memorandum on Sunday, said that buried in his story was a warning that the United States Air Force would risk the lives of its pilots by giving them “degraded” equipment to support a “selling” job within the Defence Department and to Congress. The parts which the official said were inadequately researched were in the so-called “black box” electronics, including the aircraft’s radar, navigating equipment and in the computer which makes calculations extracted from and guiding these instruments.

These parts collectively are known as the Mark 11.

The “Washington Post” said: “As far as is known, none of the 11 Air Force Fills that have crashed so far . . . has been equipped with the Mark II black boxes. These, it is thought, just now are being installed.” The Mark II was called for after the Mark I black box “did not promise the precision that the Air Force thought it could achieve,” according to the account. Several firms put in bids to build the Mark 11, and .the autonetics division of North American Rockwell Corporation won the contract. Some 600 defects were found in its design but the firm said it did not anticipate any difficulty in correcting these flaws.

“However, there is a high probability that these aircraft will not function properly in all modes and will experience a high loss rate. Such has been the experience with the FIIIA Mark I aircraft although its avionics is much less sophisticated.” The “Washington Post” said: “What the final cost of all the Mark II black boxes will be is a secret still buried with the Air Force and Autonetics. That it will be a rising figure, like that for the first batch of 210, is evident from the memo.” The memo dealt mainly with the spiralling costs of the Mark II black boxes, which rose from an estimated s6lom to $2510m in November 1968.