European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 14, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Molly Moore Washington Posta after a . Soldier has carried out the 18 Steps necessary to lire a stinger anti aircraft missile at an enemy Jet or helicopter he must remember one other requirement to hold his breath to avoid inhaling the noxious Lumes the weapon emits. The stinger which an army study said is unnecessarily difficult and too complicated Lor Many soldiers. Is but one of Many weapons now entering the nation s High technology Arsenal despite being designed with Isuf Lucienl concern Lor those who will use the weapons on the Battlefield according to Pentagon documents and Welense officials. For example a 1985 study by the army research Institute the service s research Agency concluded that the army is not developing weapon systems that work Well when they get into the Field. These problems Are going to Worsen because weapons Are becoming More Complex while the Supply of capable soldiers is decreasing " As the defense department approaches the $2 trillion Mark in its arms buildup the services confront the problem of Manning the battlefields of the 21st Century with Ordinary soldiers sailors and airmen who have trouble keeping Pace with the High technology hardware according to Pentagon studies and some defense officials. Akhteh although the problem of Matching troops to equipment has dogged the nation s military for years the Challenge has taken on serious new ramifications with the emphasis on sophisticated weaponry and a dwindling Supply of potential Young recruits. In recognition of the problem each of the services has established special programs that officials say will attempt to improve future weapons design and troop training. People Are concerned about readiness said Lawrence j. Korb the Pentagon s manpower chief from 1981 to 1985. But when you have a weapon that an american High school graduate who s going to be in the army can t operate and maintain. That is a  military officials Are Quick to note that if used property Many of today s weapons Are far More effective than the hardware they have replaced. They acknowledge however that Many of those new systems have created cumbersome and costly new difficulties. There often had been very Little consideration Given to the human Factor during the design of the weapon system said Dennis Leedom assistant director of the systems research Laboratory at the army research Institute. So often you had fielded or were about to Field weapons systems that could not be used by your average  the stinger for example is a portable 35-Pound missile. Designed to cripple Low flying enemy aircraft it was built beginning in 1978 As an improved successor to the redeye missile. Officials now say the stinger which the administration reportedly would like to provide to rebels in Angola and Afghanistan has some of the same problems As the older missile because not enough care was paid to the Soldier s capability during development of the weapon. The research Institute s engineering report on stinger problems cited aircraft identification ranging and weapon super Elevation As being especially or unnecessarily  the gunner is required to prepare the weapon for firing and sight the target while attempting to determine whether an approaching aircraft is Friend or  the lower mental category soldiers constituting a Large portion of the current population of gunners cannot operate stinger the report stated. Military hardware is it too complicated som Tor us stinger Ano tar Catt . According to Namy study the weapon it it Gen Robert m. Elton chief of personnel for the army said the stinger was a great improvement. It still needs to improve some More although the army has no shortage of soldiers capable of operating the stinger Ellon said it was forced to reassign smart soldiers to units using the weapon. In addition to weapons that Are too Complex some systems designed to reduce the number of people needed to operate them actually resulted in larger Crew requirements according to Pentagon personnel officials. In other cases poor planning forced the military to restructure units using the new hardware. And in some instances training was so inadequate that unprepared forces either refused to use or misused their sophisticated equipment according to Pentagon officials and several 1984 military weapons engineering reports for example equipment designed to make maintenance of the m1 tank easier by electronically identifying malfunctions is so unwieldy difficult to transport and difficult to connect to the tank that it actually discourages its use by maintenance personnel according to a 1984 Institute study. When the military discovered that the m1 fault finding devices also were too difficult to operate officials began updating training and technical manuals. But according to the report the manuals were revised so frequently that they were outdated by the time they reached the Field and troops frequently ignored them. The Navy s spruance class destroyer designed to be one of the most efficient in the service required 32 percent More sailors than was intended according to Navy officials. Engineers had designed a ship for a streamlined Crew of High technology specialists leaving most of the routine maintenance to be performed when the ship was in port. The Navy later discovered the idea was impractical officials said. The research Institute s 1984 study of the Black Hawk helicopter found that the army severely underestimated the number of people required to maintain and operate the transport. Estimates of the number of mechanics needed for each platoon servicing the helicopter varied from 4 to 19, depending on which army source was used. The number of maintenance personnel needed in 1383 was 24 six times As Many As the lowest estimate the report said. As a result of the inadequate estimates caused in part because Money for planning was reduced during the design stages the report said the army was required to undertake new recruitment  it also said enough people were not trained in time to test the system  the Black Hawk system was supposed to include a Trainer Model a Complete aircraft without the outer skin. The 1984 report found that the Model that arrived at the army transportation school did not match the production aircraft. The consequences for the maintenance training program were disastrous the report said. The training devices were unusable and much of the training Burden had to be shifted to the Field  another 1984 army engineering report showed that the effectiveness of the multiple launch rocket system designed to provide Battlefield bombardment was severely hampered by something As simple As failure to provide Basic map Reading skills to platoon members responsible for moving the vehicle to Battle Sites. Pentagon officials say the solution is not to return to simpler weapons because sophisticated weaponry is one Way the United states compensates for the numerical superiority of the Warsaw pact which also has invested heavily in High tech munitions. The Navy has its Hardman hardware manpower the army has created Man print manpower and personnel integration and the air Force has recently initiated its met manpower personnel and the army s Elton said that while some Partnof those programs have been in use for several years they Are now exploding into virtually every weapons area in All branches of the military. Al is is Man print now requires that the Soldier s be de in design of All new weapons an hardware. The program also toughens training programs for soldiers assigned to the Hig Mech hardware Page 18 the stars and stripes sunday september 14,1986