New bomber misses lavish welcome

Press, 1 July 1985, Page 10

New bomber misses lavish welcome

NZPA-Reuter Abilene The United States Air Force took delivery of its first new strategic bomber in 30 years yesterday — but it had to use a stand-in when the controversial aircraft developed engine problems. The problem in the first production model of the needle-nosed 818 supersonic bomber forced the Air Force to use a test model for lavish ceremonies before 20,000 spectators and top Pentagon personnel at the Dyess Air Force base near Abilene, Texas. The flight by the test model, piloted by the chief of the United States Air Force’s Strategic Air Command, General Bennie Davis, highlighted formal ceremonies marking the arrival of the SUS2O.S billion ($43.90 billion) investment, which will replace the ageing, subsonic four-engined 852 bomber. Colonel Alan Rogers, commander of the 96th Bombardment Wing, at Dyess, said that a mechanical problem in the production plane’s air coolerblower had dislodged several bolts and washers that damaged two of the bomber’s four engines on Friday at Offutt Air Force Base, at Omaha, Nebraska. “We feel this occurred about one minute prior to landing. The crew did not know until after landing and the crew was never in jeopardy,” Colonel Rogers said. Scrapped during Jimmy Carter’s administration, the Bl bomber programme was revived by the next President, Ronald Reagan,

despite criticism that 15 years of planning and development of the bomber had already made it obsolete.

The 818 bomber, the first new Air Force model since the 852 was introduced in 1955, can fly close to the ground to evade enemy radar at up to 970km/h at tree-top level and can carry nuclear and conventional weapons. Its wings swing back to permit supersonic speeds. Congress has approved buying 52 818 bombers. The Reagan Administration is lobbying to buy 100 of the aircraft at a total cost SUS2O.S billion. The swing-wing 818, built by Rockwell International Corporation, is powered by four 13,620 kg-thrust engines and carries a four-man crew. The 818 bomber substituted at the ceremony was a test model dispatched from Edwards Air Force Base, in California. An earlier prototype crashed into a Californian desert, killing the pilot, last year. An inquiry ruled that the accident occurred when the plane manoeuvred to avoid an Fill aircraft. Despite the mechanical problems with the production model, General John Vessey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the 818 demonstrated United States military readiness. “We want to make sure the Soviets know they cannot strike at us and succeed,” General Vessey said. “This is an important part of our strategic modernisation.”