European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 30, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                April 1977 the stars and stripes Page 11 study finds Russ leading West in hardware London up the soviets Are far outstripping the West in both intensity and scope of modernization of their armed the authoritative Institute for strategic studies has it said the soviets now not Only have superiority in numbers of men and military hardware in the vital Central Europe area but also Are overtaking the West in Quality in recent years a new generation of soviet equipment has led some observers to conclude that the qualitative Gap is narrowing and could in fact disappear during the next the Institute said in its annual strategic it said the soviet arms buildup apparently is not designed simply to achieve All around military superiority but is virtually the soviet unions Only Means of exerting its claims to be a world has emerged As the Lon term Security problem for the West How to live without War with an ambitious soviet Union which not Only has at her disposal the Means for global military action but also depends primarily on the military instrument for her influence the Institute is a nongovernmental International Center for information and debate on world strategic the Survey reviewed International Security developments in the past 12 the Survey said the current trend in the East West strategic balance revealed a process of continuous soviet military mod which in almost every area seemed to outpace the intensity and scope of Western military it was this trend that Western governments would of dispute lag Gao report criticizes f j 6 fighter program by Drew Middleton new York not the Multi nation multimillion Dollar f18 fighter program is plagued by production delays and Cost according to a report drafted for Congress by the general accounting the Gao report said that the program is behind that its costs Rose by billion in 1976 and that its Success or failure will have a significant influence on the Fate of future co production pro Grams in general the prime contract Pratt which manufactures the and the air Force dispute the gaos criticisms of the contend ing that the program is proceeding Accord ing to the original which began in called for production of a new Light weight fighter to replace the f4 by a consortium made up of the and four european members of nato the Netherlands and the initial target was 388 of which the european members of the group would buy 348 and the air Force the air Force has since announced its intention to buy an additional 678 additional sales additional sales Are expected to which wants to Purchase 300 Spain and Pentagon sources envisage a global Market for the fighter Worth approximately since the memorandum of understand ing was signed in 1975 by the five members of the the program has faced a Host of some arose from Engi Neering others resulted from the european members requirement for an aircraft that will be More than an Airt air fighter and will be Able to carry out an air to ground support role in the conclusion drawn by sources in the aircraft Industry is that the solution of these problems will result in an increase in the Cost of each plane in 1975 Dol cited in the memorandum of under the Gao believes that the air Force is concerned Over the problem of restarting the engine at an acceptably Low the air does not think this is a serious problem and that it will be program costs originally estimated at billion for the increased by billion last year with billion of this resulting from the addition of 73 f16b two sealer aircraft to the the air Force believes it con justify the addition of the other the co production sector has also raised some the is committed to offsetting european procurement costs through european participation in product under the general dynamics plan there will be two f16 Assembly lines in operated by the dutch and the each assembling 174 Fabrique National in Belgium will As semble Pratt Whitney fido engines for the european the Gao report estimated that approximately 55 contracts would be awarded for european in late 1976 Only 23 contracts had been largely because differences in european and american contractual and business practices had to be the report also said that the air Force did not know the extent of the Impact that european co production would Nave on Overall the air Force replied that it did not believe that european participation would increase general in an answer to some parts of the Gao the f16 fighter program is and has been proceeding on schedule and we do not anticipate any delays inthe the fido engine has performed in excellent fashion and we have experienced no unintentional engine stalls or engine restart prob assertions by tactical air come officers Are included in the report on the need for radar guided Airt air missiles for the f16 in addition to the infrared guided missiles that Are now its Basic Accord ing to the the f16 does not have space for the additional missiles suggested by the tactical air other changes in the f16 have been necessitated to give it a dual capability air to ground As Well As these changes Are due in part to urgings from the european the Gao reported the following other causes for potential Cost growth for the european equipment produced to meet offset requirements Are expected to be More costly than components made in an increase in european inflation could increase the Cost of the european production especially in the Quality control could result in delays and substitution of parts could Lead to higher have to contend with in future the fact As Western military options became More soviet military options were the Survey said soviet strategic arms programs included the introduction of a new family of intercontinental missiles first observed in 1974 the ssi8 and ss19 and Well As the medium Range missile aimed primarily at China and Western an even newer generation of missiles was reported to be under it other new soviet weapons it listed included a new t72 tank deployed in Eastern the first soviet aircraft Carrier Kiev with vertical Takeoff and Landing planes aboard and the su19 variable geometry ground attack which has terrain avoidance radar and a laser target the Survey said the chief danger for the West in Europe lies not in a possible soviet armed attack but in the current economic at the resulting it would Lead to the progressive disintegration of the system of Western eco nomic coordination and of the acceptance of interdependence that went with it in favor of National and nationalistic alternatives which were unlikely to the Survey said the greatest potential risk of big Power confrontation lies in the growing racial conflict in Southern there is Little Hope that protracted conflict in the Region could be it the Survey warned also of the danger of nuclear proliferation and the potential for conflict if poorer third world states fail to achieve economic in the Middle the Survey the risk is not the imminent outbreak at War but the loss of momentum for Compro Mise and it said it is unlikely a new Geneva Middle East peace conference will produce a breakthrough but unless it produced some tangible the momentum would be lost and expectations for a peaceful settlement would be overtaken by preparations for an other round of thes european edition co Billy Ltd Larry Mert managing editor Elmer manager Henry manager Tim Newi paper it an author died unofficial publication Tor armed forces tin Sun end so net Pumi thud in conjunction the armed form information program h department of contend Elm and Are not tin official vow of the the department of Dif Tam or in us european Tot appearance of Dpi Jiayi in newspaper cont ring commercial Dott not commute an Andora mint str department of including the military military m drip Shari and Apo International mail to Start and ii to o4ioo Dart lady Tel 1c Iii my farm ital Airt no lint 94ft York office roam my York Tel area code m it Ruu second Cleu Pottage paid at new n news bureaus Ron building au9durg Milmary or aum Wurfl Kaiser tie Utor Floyd building military etto or Kai Birru Tulton ctr to Frlj Dan building William Varoy Nuernberg military 7214 or Nuernberg Civ Gary rap Apo i tide Nail Mill til 2131 or civilian Mitten hair d Jonn the room 202 or circulation offices civilian Mil Civ Mil mems or Civ met vog Eiwen my of Chiwu or North str Ryan Rem main Mil ill Mil duo Greece Civ h2uw Ana it Btij Italy Mil Camp Darby spam maund or Torr Jon air Bate Mil Lile bul Civ Kuzj United Green Nam corp snort Cim misled by ads we have recently resumed from berth the Sadens ski where skiing can be enjoyed by the family with arc Ages s and go Nursery even though imply otherwise such As and i quote kindergarten is free and open to any child old enough to Wear skis rental skis Avail maximum age is 7 this piece of false advertising appeared in a souvenir guide at the armed forces recreation the information that appeared in the stars and the ski week brochure and various other pamphlets said nothing about children having to be at least s years of age before any skiing can be our 34yearold was All excited about learning to yet when we got he was Only allowed to go outdoors for two hours a Day and that was to not to ski the rest of the Day consisted of stay ing in the Nursery for which we had to who in charge of this program and Why do the advertisements contain false information if children 5 years old and under must stay in he Why do the brochures claim otherwise Why is there no mention of a fee for the int false advertising and this is false advertising against the Law disappointed Parent Germany editors Thomp chief of recreational services in replies please accept our apologies for your inconveniences with our ski the fact is that we bit off More than we could Chew and had to change the ski kindergarten procedures in the response to this free program was Ite kindergarten is a newly developing and we Are learning As we when we started our plan was to include children of All Ages who could up on we found this year that our classes often numbered 40 and last year we averaged 10 Chil ski week was a big week with Over 300 students on our ski we had been working All four kindergarten instructors with Little or no time and Al though mathematically each should have had 10 Many parents brought Small children who were not even toilet trained or who simply were not interested and refused to so an instructor or two would have to leave and tend these few leaving the remaining instructors with an Lunana Gable just to keep them together safely was an Effort and not fun for the we found that most of the Enders year old group simply could not stay out Side in the cold Lor five consecutive rather than have the Little ones in an unsafe and unhappy we decided to work with All children on skis in the and then they were taken to after our Bead instructor moved the children 4 years of age and below to our this was explained to the Par the instructor settled the children with the Nursery usually stay ing one hour to make sure they were comfortable Many of the us curled up and fell those children whom the instructor believed could continue siding were returned to the ski this procedure freed the s 1yearolds to really learn the fun of As the instructors concentrated on them la the we learn from experience and think that we made our change with the welfare of All children in next year our plans Are to limit the ski kindergarten age to 5 7 year parents who desire to bring younger children May use our Nursery if they so