European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 2 the stars and stripes sunday March 22,1987 nato Dir base defences criticized by Chuck Vinc Washington Bureau Washington air supremacy Over Europe a critical Clement of nato War time strategy. Would be lost because the Alliance s sir Box defences arc woefully in adequate a Georgia congressman lays. Nato has been extremely remiss i providing for the appropriate defense of its air bases rep Richard Ray d-ga., old the House armed services commit tee defense policy panel. Ray visited number of Alliance air bases in Europe last summer to assess base defense. The United states and ill european Lii Ware providing nato with Wane of the most effective and costly fighter air Craft in the world Ray said Friday but much of this investment will have been Tor naught if these planes can t be launched and recovered As planned from our operating bases the Issue of air base defense Fri the Alliance has never received much Atten Tion but the threat posed by the Inadequacy of those defences has never Bee greater Ray said. The latest soviet combat aircraft Are expected to be capable of carrying up to roughly twice their previous payload. To travel Over three limes their previous Range at higher speeds and to conduct operations at lower altitudes Ray said. But soviet air Power is Only one aspect of the threat to Allied air bases he said. We can assume that at the beginning of hostilities the attack on nato air bases will probably be initiated by soviets Petson special operations forces trained in sabotage and unconventional . Intelligence sources estimate there Are up to 100,000 soviet special forces operatives in Western Europe. They would infiltrate to indict dam age and create ground confusion and disruption Ray said. The next step might be soviet attacks designed to ground Allied aircraft by creating chaos entering run ways and damaging support structures he said. Thai will probably be followed by a increasing series of air strikes airborne As saults and conventional ground Force thrusts intent upon further damaging the air bases he said. Until now our answer to the air superiority requirement has been to rely primarily on our fighter aircraft he said. But without appropriate defences we won t have enough time to get our aircraft into the air to Deal with the Waves of soviet fighters and attack bombers which Willcome after the Spe Snaz attacks and the tactical the Pentagon s primary approach to air base defense has been to request More aircraft for the offensive and defensive counter air rotes while also emphasizing passive shelters camouflage. Concealment and base repair and Revtov Ery plans Ray said a definitive time phased program i needed to resolve the gaps in defences at . Bases in Europe and the even More severe vulnerabilities at bases where . And Allied air forces Are co located and at Host nation civilian airports that would serve As wartime deployment site for . Forces Ray said. Such a program should put More emphasis on the proper mix of elements to combat the varied threats Lonato airbases he said. This must include ground Security systems to Deal with the pc Snaz threat warning radars command and control systems counter air fighter planes sur face to air missiles in an area air defens Erole passive base defences and Point air defense Ray said. Neglecting any on of these areas results in an achilles1 Heel which makes any Progress Dod to activate interservice transport command by William j. Bartma Washington Barem Washington the Pentagon seeking to get belter grip on its transportation resources in the event of War is preparing to establish a transportation com Mand to centralize duties now handled separately by each Branch of the plan recommended by the joint chiefs of staff needs Only the approval of defense Secretary Caspa Weinberger before it can Start. In addition to replacing and incorporating the military Airlift Abmd in also would take control of the army s military traffic management cored and the Navy s Seal in come. Officials have set april 15 As the Start up Date but Aid it will be about a year before the system u fully operational. The new . Trans come would be com mantled by air Force Gen. Duan Cassidy. The current Heads of those commands would be come Deputy commanders of the new organization. We Are ready for activation april is with a Skele ton staff not a full command said Robert Moore of the air Force s military Airlift come. The Whitehouse and Congress will still have to review his pro unified command enables us to be ready for War Moore said. We would be belter prepared to use our transport resources military and in addition to handling military transportation the three interdependent transport commands have control Over commercial services provided to the military such As the scheduled airlines transport offices or satos which Are jointly owned by the nation major airlines. The satos also stand ready to order commercial aircraft into military transport service Inan emergency. 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