N.A.T.O. decides to buy early-warning aircraft

Press, 7 December 1978, Page 9

N.A.T.O. decides to buy early-warning aircraft

NZPA-Reuter Bonn Defence Ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation have endorsed an estimated SIBOOM programme to develop an air-| borne warning and control system, the United States agreeing to pay 41 per cent of the costs. The move, reported by West German military sources, would set up a; mixed force of two kinds of] aircraft — 11 Nimrods to be! bought and equipped by;

Britain and 16 to 18 special-ly-converted Boeing 7075. Planned for deployment in the early 1980 s, the system is intended to eliminate the risk of no-warning attacks. Before the decision was I reached, General Zeiner Gundersen of Norway, had warned the Ministers that Warsaw Pact countries were outstripping those of N.A.T.O. As chairman of N.A.T.O.’s ; Military Committee, com- [ prising national chiefs-of- ' staff, General Gundersen ’ also reported that the air, I land, and sea forces of the

communist nations were being rapidly modernised. Consequently there was a steadily widening gap between N.A.T.O.’s capabilities and those of the Warsaw Pact, he said. France, and Greece kept their Defence Ministers away from the session because both countries no longer participate in N.A.T.O.’s unified military system. They will be represented, however, when Foreign Ministers of the alliance get together this week for a study of world political trends.