B52 soldiers on

Press, 20 October 1976, Page 8

B52 soldiers on

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo The United States Air Force Secretary (Mr Thomas Reed) would expect the 852 strategic bomber to be used for conventional tacticalbombing attacks in the event of an outbreak of hostilities on the Korean peninsula. i Mr Reed told a news conference in Tokyo that one of the lessons of the Vietnam War was that the 852 was a very flexible aircraft which had proved impressive in the precision with Which it was able to deliver its weapons.

Asked about the 852 flights over South Korea immediately after the incident on August 18 in which two United States Army officers were killed by North Korean guards at the Panmunjom armistice village, Mr Reed replied: “The 852 crews are training, and will continue their training, on occasion,

over Korea as part of our changing perception of the use of strategic bombers.” Mr Reed has now flown to South Korea, where he will talk to commanders, particularly about the new AlO close air support aircraft now coming into service with the United States Air Force. “Korea could become the sort of situation that the AlO was designed to prevent: A very intense ground war in poor weather with a heavy tank attack,” Mr Reed said.

Referring again to the 852, he said that the appearance of the Soviet Union aircraft-carrier Kiev in the Mediterranean had led to talks between America’s Chief of Air Staff and the head of naval operations about. sea surveillance. “They have reached an

agreement wherein we will begin to use 852 s in the seasurveillance role,” he said. “By 1982, when the Bl will, we hope, have its initial operational capability, many of the. 852 aircraft will be older than the boys flying them,” he said. “And when you think about that — when you think of being asked to fly an aircraft that is older than you are in combat over the Soviet Union — I think that dramatically illustrates the need to proceed with the Bl.” Asked about the capabilities of the Fl 5 fighter, of which the United States Air Force plans to procure more than 700, Mr Reed said that it was the best all-weather aircraft in the world capable of defeating any other aircraft put up against it in a dogfight.