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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 1947.PDF
national, 28 September (967 545 t Germany Prepares for Cut-back WEST GERMAN Parliamentary Efence Committee met recently to cuss the three alternative proposals It forward by the Defence Ministry for Itching expenditure to the DM96,130 (approx. £8,740 million) ear- jirked for defence purposes over the |xt four years in the Government's jrrent medium-term finance plans. The fst of these proposals calls for a duction in the strength of the Lndeswehr from 458,000 to 400,000, Ith particular emphasis on administra- and rear-area services; the second vours cuts in arms procurement but reduction in manpower; while the lird represents a compromise, namely manpower cut of between 15,000 and fe.OOO combined with more moderate fits in weapons purchases. No decision Wars to have been reached by the pmmittee. | Although proceedings in the Defence ommittee are secret, it is known that err Eduard Adorno, Defence Ministry krliamentary Secretary, informed the bmmittee that no radical changes were be expected in the general defence olicies or in the overall organisation the Bundeswehr. Turning to the jubject of aircraft procurement, Adorno Eso denied reports that the Bundeswehr fas planning to purchase 150 McDon- |ell F-4 Phantoms for the Luftwaffe nd Kriegsmarine; his Ministry had been jiving considerable thought to the ques- lon of replacement types for the (ircraft at present in service with the no Services, but no decision had yet en reached, nor in fact was any to : expected in the near future. The Defence Committee discussed the |uestion of Transall C.160 deliveries to Luftwaffe and is disposed to stick the original order for 110 of these fircraft, so as to keep down the unit lost to a reasonable level and to protect prcraft industry employment. It is "xpected that a number of the Luft- Rffe's order will be re-sold abroad, as l to requirements. While the Defence Committee delibera- ions were continuing, Chancellor *iesinger was addressing the Foreign wairs Committee on the same subject y Latest impressions of the US-German AVS project, being handled by Fairchild-Hiller and EWR Sud, clearly show the swing-out vectoring lift engines, swing wings, and swivelling main-engine jetpipes of this highly complex VG VTOL project. Now in the systems definition phase, to be completed in November, the AVS will then be recon- sidered by both Governments, with a decision on whether to embark on prototypes due to be taken next February. Washington sources report a slight warming in the US Government's still cool attitude of the Bundeswehr's future, reportedly stating that he had reached agreement with Defence Minister Gerhard Schroder before his visit to the United States that plan 3—a cut of 15,000 to 19,000 in manpower coupled with some procure- ment reductions—should be adopted. Similar views were also being expressed in Washington by the German Army C-in-C, General Moll, in the course of talks with US Army Chief of Staff, General Harold Johnson. In these talks, particular attention was given to the Bundeswehr's future transport needs, which, it is agreed, can only be met by relying to a greater extent on medium and utility transport helicopters. AWACS Delay Hits F-12 Programme DEVELOPMENT of the projected USAF airborne early warning and control sys- tem (AWACS) aircraft, for which vari- ants of the Douglas DC-8 and Boeing 707 airliners have been proposed, may extend over the next five years, accord- ing to Aviation Daily. Contract definition of the aircraft is expected within the next month or so but development will At an author's dinner to launch "The Fighter Pilots" by Edward Sims, Sqn Ldr "Ginger" Lacey, top-scoring RAF pilot (then a sergeant) during the Battle of Britain, right, meets Hr Erich Hartmann, top-scoring Luftwaffe fighter pilot in the Second World War be a lengthy business. Until the system (which involves high resolution radars able to track distant low-flying targets against ground and sea clutter) is fully proved, the USAF is unlikely to be per- mitted to order Lockheed F-12s, or any other long-range Mach 3 intercepters, as long as Mr McNamara is Defence Secretary. Mr McNamara considers the AWACS and YF-12 programmes as complementary—the long-range inter- cepter, as argument runs, being of little use without the airborne electronics to acquire and track its targets. Aviation Daily also reports that the USAF's operational requirement for a "light intra-theatre transport" to follow the C-130 Hercules is still in a stale of flux and design studies are not complete. Contract definition of the LIT, as the project is termed, is unlikely before 1969. One of the questions not yet resolved is whether the aircraft will be a V/STOL design. More about Phantom Procurement IN THE ARTICLE "Preparing for the Phantom" on pages 483-487 of last week's issue were references which should be modified in the light of infor- mation received from the Ministry of Technology. First, the roles of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Technology in procurement (third-from-last para- graph on page 484 of the article) may be more accurately explained as follows: Naval Air Systems Command of the US Navy acts as agent for the MoD in the development and procurement of the aircraft. In short, Mintech fulfils its normal role except that instead of deal- ing directly with !he aircraft construc- tor (as it would with a British firm) it works through NASC. This arrangement gives the benefit of bulk buying, as whenever possible the British orders are combined with much larger American orders, with the result that the advan- tages of long production runs accrue.
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