European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 8, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Scrapping a $1.8 billion Lemon the costly Sag of the sergeant York by Bill Keller new York times if a weapon can be mid in have a ,.li . Tin non Nirce ill gun t ,iit".i11,1.s"tne i Yolk Lidh id Linn. Deline eur Lar  Vav Vinberg or cancelled the  i . Nin ii 0 billion Alread spent on ii a i . I ii veiled aimpmr., dismantled lorry. The i in had i a Ned a special plur in Ilia lore of iry . Liludi1  he become the Bull of stole ,. Mime  in Ixa i.   on she filing ran if is Are under constant Prev Chi in meet the a i item  of the soviet threat the a estimate-., which critics say lend to be inflated in the lir to place Oll i change As new reports Roll in irom intelligence Agi inc. O  weapon of signers  themselves trying. J Meim a Charu Jinq  of obie Tivi -. The diva Loam waited out to design a weapon a Anil dive bombing airplan.-, and ended to worrying inn warily about helicopters  Oehms Distant Trees the military . Not Ligure cd out How to test Complex weapons in a Way that resembles actual combat Tho  gun a. Ultimately killed on the basis of " simulated combat that both the army and ils critics agree bore Wile Sim Lanty to actual combat conditions More olten today s intricate weapons Are sent to the Field without any Assurance of How they will perform in Battle. In the military the customer often becomes a cheer Leader Lor the product under development the army says this is not necessarily bad after All the army has a slake in making a program successful but critics say the army s unwillingness to admit problems with the diva had a High Price at Best the say it undermined the army s credibility at worst it could have sent an unreliable weapon to the troops Export on both sides agreed that the gun would still be in production except Lor an extraordinary drumbeat of political pressure stemming from lawmakers looking or ways to Cut military spending and irom factions within the Pentagon that opposed the weapon and were willing to publicize its shortcomings there Are systems in the Pentagon today thai Are a Lar worse shape or in equally bad shape As diva " said Anthony r. A i Tista. A longtime member of the research and development staff of the House armed services commit to. A lot of Ether losers Are surviving Page 16 the stars and stripes sunday. Decembers. 1985 while diva went Down the  on dec. 9. The army is scheduled to Brief Weinberger on initial recommendations for a weapon to replace the sergeant York. Officials involved in the study say they Are determined not to repeal their mistakes. Even in the Pentagon however Olli coils made no promises. Could it happen today in today s environment mused James p. Wade the assistant Secretary of defense in charge of weapons acquisition. Yes. Human nature being what it  in the Early 1970s, there was agreement that the army needed a new weapon to defend its tank divisions against enemy aircraft. The Vulcan air Desenso system a world War ii Voiage galling gun. Was considered badly outdated too Shori in Range difficult to move around useless in bad weather and it Felt its Crew exposed to enemy attackers. The army was faced with the Choice of a gun or a self propelled missile. Missiles have longer Range and can be designed to Home in on elusive targets. Some experts primarily civilian analysts in the Pentagon were set on the Virtues of missiles. Guns on the other hand can Spray a formidable Cloud of ammunition quickly and can also be used against targets on the ground. All our friends who Fly air planes Tell us they Are scared to death of  said Vernon Lewis a retired major general who headed the army team that Drew up me original requirements for the weapon the vast majority of our aircraft shot Down in Vietnam were shot Down by guns. We were the Only army in the world that did t have a decent  to win ils bureaucratic Battle against the missile advocates the army promised an extraordinary gun it would have a Range of Lour Kilometres four limes the Range of the Vulcan it would also be designed to uie radar laser Range finders and computers to track targets in darkness and bad weather. To this Day there is intense debate about whether