[109577] in Cypherpunks
CDR: US cruise missile shortage (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jim Choate)
Tue Mar 30 09:04:00 1999
From: Jim Choate <ravage@EINSTEIN.ssz.com>
To: cypherpunks@EINSTEIN.ssz.com
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 07:48:52 -0600 (CST)
Reply-To: Jim Choate <ravage@EINSTEIN.ssz.com>
----- Forwarded message from Douglas Loss -----
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 08:27:30 -0500
From: "Douglas Loss" <dloss@husky.bloomu.edu>
To: consim-l@net.uni-c.dk
Subject: US cruise missile shortage
Here's a piece from Softwar <http://www.softwar.net> about US
cruise missile stocks, with a bit of conservative politics thrown
in towards the end.
Doug Loss
-------------------------------------------
USAF PLANNERS WORRIED ABOUT MISSILE SHORTAGE
USAF warplanners are worried that they will soon run out of Air
Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCM). The
remaining inventory of the Boeing air launched missile is
reported to be under 200 after the firing of 40 to
50 ALCMs during NATO strikes inside Serbia. Boeing no longer
manufactures the ALCM.
The low ALCM inventory is one reason being circulated for the
the early combat deployment of the
stealth bombers into heavily defended Serbian airspace. The
downing of a F-117A Nighthawk by Serbian
air defenses clearly shows that manned aircraft are vulnerable.
Robot missiles such as the Boeing ALCM are used in areas where
manned fighters would be exposed to
dangerous air defenses. Boeing ALCMs are currently launched by
the aging B-52 bombers, flying safely
outside of enemy airspace.
The B-2, F-117A and other stealth manned aircraft are expensive
assets to risk in some heavily defended
areas. The recently downed F-117A fighter-bomber has punctured
the invulnerability of stealth aircraft
and nearly cost the Air Force a pilot.
The F-117A stealth bomber carries special 2,000 pound bombs,
designed to knock out installations buried
in deep rock tunnels such as the Serbian military command and
control network. The F-117A was thought
to be invisible to even the most advanced Serbian air defense
systems such as the SA-10 "Grumble"
surface to air missile (SAM) or the MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter.
The other stealth bomber, the USAF B-2, has been plagued by
extra-ordinary costs, a single base and by
rain clouds that frequently shroud Yugoslavia. The limited
number of the billion dollar planes, and the bad
eastern european weather has forced planners to use no more than
handful of big bombers per day. The
long 14 hour flight time from the single U.S. airbase also
forces B-2 planners to limit attacks to fixed
targets on a scheduled basis.
In contrast, NATO stealth forces in theatre provide direct fire
on very short notice. F-117A jets from
nearby NATO bases in Italy are minutes from their targets in
Yugoslavia. The NATO reliance on the
F-117A pits these tactical aircraft against the teeth of Serbian
Army mobile air defenses such as the SA-6
"Gainful" and the SA-10 "Grumble."
President Clinton is being criticized in Congress and the
Pentagon for being "bomb" happy. Clinton's
policy of bombing with high-tech weapons is rapidly using up
U.S. inventories. The shortages, according to
DOD officials, can be laid directly to President Clinton's
Defense budget shortfalls for the hard pressed
U.S. military.
According to Defense planners, the most critical shortfall is in
air launched cruise missiles. In late 1998,
Boeing was contracted by the USAF to convert the final remaining
130 nuclear tipped AGM-86B missiles
into conventional "Bunker Buster" ALCMs with 2,000 pound
warheads. After the last AGM-86 is
converted no further missiles will be available.
The USAF has no missile that can replace the long range ALCM.
The original USAF replacement for the
ALCM, the JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile), does
not have the range nor the heavy one
ton payload of the AGM-86B "Bunker Buster" missile. The stealthy
JASSM is currently being
manufactured by Lockheed/Martin and is reported to have only a
1,000 pound warhead and a range of
300 miles.
Late last year the Air Force chief of staff, General Michael
Ryan, told his staff to begin planning for a
new missile to replace the AGM-86. Ryan told his staff to
consider all possibilities, including a heavy
version of JASSM with a 1,000 mile range.
In March 1999, General Ryan told the Senate Armed Forces
Committee that JASSM cannot be
considered a replacement for the AGM-86. General Ryan described
the JASSM as a "complementary"
weapon with a lighter 1,000 pound warhead.
The Air Force has spent over $3.4 billion and a decade
developing the JASSM stealth cruise missile. Not
a single JASSM has been manufactured for operational production.
The requirement for a new, long
range, version could delay the JASSM project. USAF and
Lockheed/Martin officials are anxious to
complete the stealth missile before taking on any modifications
or a new missile design.
Ironically, the USAF answer may lie in a troubled Navy missile
project and Russia. One reported Boeing
follow on for the ALCM under consideration is a ramjet powered,
hypersonic, cruise missile. Such a high
speed missile could strike targets at extreme ranges and have
the added impact of bullet like speed.
The U.S. Navy is already funding a small project to provide
targets that simulate high speed super-sonic
cruise missiles. The candidate is required to fly at Mach two
just nine feet above the sea for over 50
miles.
One potential candidate is from the Russian Zvezda-Strela State
Science and Production Center. The
Russian proposal was to supply the Navy with up to 300 modified
Kh-31A 'Kripton' (Mod 2) medium
range air-to-surface anti-ship and anti-radar missiles over the
next five years.
The titanium Kh-31 was built in 1988 by Zvezda-Strela for the
former Soviet Union. In 1997, the U.S.
Navy test fired four of the ramjet powered, titanium cruise
missiles which reached a reported 1,700 miles
per hour at 100 feet. The missile, however, suffers from a lack
of range and does not meet Navy
specifications for 50 miles.
In 1998, the Clinton administration gave Boeing/Douglas and
Zvezda-Strela engineers additional funding
to improve the Russian missile's range to over 100 miles. Zvezda
and Boeing circulated reports of an
agreement between Russia and the U.S. Navy to purchase up to 300
Kh-31s.
Boeing was to convert the weapon Kh-31 into the MA-31 supersonic
aerial targets (SSST) for the U.S.
Navy (Janes Defense Weekly 14 October 1998). According to Janes
Defense, 28% of any sale would go
directly into the bank accounts of the Russian Army Generals.
Press reports and Congressional pressure have forced the U.S.
Navy to purchase no more than five
MA-31 missiles from Boeing in 1999. According to a letter
written by Undersecretary of the Navy, H.
Lee Buchanan, the Navy plans to only fund $2.8 million for "a
limited number of MA-31 targets."
Furthermore, the Navy program has come under fire from Democrats
and Republicans in Congress. The
Russian MA-31 is inferior when compared to a current missile
fielded by U.S. contractor Allied Signal.
The Vandal, a modified Talos missile of 1950s design, already
exceeds the required Navy Mach 2+/50
mile range specifications.
Despite its age, the Talos/Vandal has beaten the best Navy ship
air defenses deployed against it and
many of the Navy missiles deployed to replace it. Allied
proposes to update the Talos/Vandal design and
build a new 1990s package called Sea Snake. The Sea Snake takes
the best of the Talos, a giant ramjet
engine powered by lighter fluid, and combines it with new
lightweight electronics and airframe.
The Sea Snake predecessor, Talos, could exceed Mach 3 in flight
and was large enough to carry a huge
nuclear warhead. Talos had a long and successful career filling
Navy air defense needs until it was retired
from service in the late 1980s.
During the Vietnam War a single Talos destroyed two MiGs at a
distance of over 65 miles. Talos was
also used to strike North Vietnamese radar sites on the ground
over 75 miles inland. There is every
reason to expect Sea Snake to exceed Talos in all categories.
Allied is not alone with ideas. In addition, several other U.S.
defense contractors have expressed interest
in supplying proposals for the tiny SSST program. One such
proposal is reported to be an exotic
hyper-sonic wave rider similar to high speed UFO like vehicles
flown from Area-51. These new designs
will push aerospace technology to the very limits.
Yet, Presidential politics have interfered with the tiny Navy
project. There are open allegations that the
Navy project is being given to the Russians. Vice President Al
Gore was alleged to support the purchase
of the Kh-31 by the Navy. The Russian maker Zvezda-Strela is
backed by Gore supporters, Cassidy
Associates, a lobbying firm located inside the beltway and IBP
International, an arms firm located in
England.
Congressman Tim Roemer (D-IN), told the National Security
Sub-Committee of the House
Appropriations Committee that they should "consider the
reliability of a Russian source" for a U.S. Navy
missile program. In addition, Roemer warned that "the
procurement of the Russian made MA-31 will
almost surely terminate the Navy's most reliable existing
supplier of targets made in the U.S.A."
Congressional officials are concerned the Sea Snake and other
advanced designs need to be fairly
considered and not sacrificed for the sake of global politics.
The importance of the SSST program goes
well beyond a few hundred target drones for the Navy and strikes
directly at the heart of our current
missile shortage.
U.S. contractors are following the Air Force and Navy missile
needs carefully. The Navy SSST
requirement for a few hundred high speed targets could well
expand into a joint requirement for
thousands of new missiles to replenish allied inventories. The
loss of the project to a political deal to
improve Russian/U.S. relations may set American hyper-sonic
development back for years.
The Clinton years in the Oval office have been spent weakening
U.S. armed forces. Our weakness, in
turn, has given rise to a more unstable world. Instead of
maintaining or even building on the Reagan
1980s weapons budgets, so long derided by liberals, Clinton has
expended our critical defense stockpiles
in futile and useless attempts to sway dictators. The U.S.
weakness needs to be addressed at once before
North Korea, China or Iraq decide to challenge our bare
cupboards.
It may shock some but President Clinton will not be here much
longer. The USAF and Navy, however, will
be here in the twenty first century to defend our nation. They
deserve the best weapons, pay and training
on Earth. These values should not be sacrificed for short term
political gains nor historic legacies.
----- End of forwarded message from Douglas Loss -----
____________________________________________________________________
Vice is nurtured by secrecy.
Virgilius
The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate
Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com
www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087
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