European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 22, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday May 22, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 3 it s � plane it s a helicopter no wait minute h s both. When a Navy ch-53 on a Wing and a rotary Blade stir or sullion helicopter sidles next to an air Force Kc-130 Hercules Tanker for refuelling it makes for a strange blending of fixed Wing and helicopter aircraft. The ch-s3e to based at the naval air station at Simonella Sicily. Accurate hard to detect exocet is a Best seller Paris a the exocet missile that Hil inc Stark in the persian Gulf killing 37 americans is in demand worldwide because it is accurate reliable and hard to detect or intercept military experts say. The air to ship am 39 exocet that hit the american frigate sunday is the in pc lion of French arms contractor car Asp Alialy in collaboration with the French military. Since it was put into production in 1980, the exocet has become one of France s Best Selling weapons by the end of 1981, it had been or dered by 25 nations including Iraq Peru Pakistan and Syria according to the London based International Institute for strategic studies. French defense officials would not say How much it Cost. A spokesman for the French defense ministry speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy declined to provide the names of coun tries currently buying exocet but said 2,000 had been sold since 1980. It is a very very important missile to us the spokesman said. It is very accurate and when you launch the missile you know it will hit the target 99 percent of the time. Everyone knows that. Don Kerr of the International Institute a photo French made exocet missile is filed from a French Navy ship during an exercise. Said French sales of the missile were boosted after the 1982 Falkland War in which tic exocet was used with devastating effect by Argentina against in British Navy. The British warship Shef Field was set afire and sunk by an exec cd. Since then the missile has become. Extremely popular because it is difficult for radar to detect impossible to see with the naked Eye and hard to hit with conventional gunfire Kerr said. The am 39 Model descends from a Sci fighter As it did from the iraqi Al Jet sunday to Fly by radar about 6 to s feet above the sea s surface. The missile is extremely accurate and designed to hit the Side of a ship in its operations room the nerve Center of a military vessel. Travelling at just under the Speed of sound at 10 Miles a minute the missile hat Hil the Stark slammed into the icel Side of the ship about 20 feel above the waterline. It hit just below the ship s brain its combat information Center. The am 39, one of four types of exocet missiles made by Aero spatial has substantial blast and fragment warhead. Try to imagine what would happen Ina computer room which is what an operations Center on a ship is if you hit it with a bomb then threw a couple of Hundred pounds of hot Sharp frag ments in moving at a High velocity Cut Ling through anything in their path Kerr said. It would certainly put a computer room out of commission. It does t do people a lot of Good  the French defense ministry declined to comment on the use of the am 39 against the . Vessel. The Only missile competing with the exocet in performance is the .-Madeharpoon, initially put in operation in 1976, Kerr said. Neither the French nor Kerr would speculate As to whether the Stark was adequately equipped to spot and destroy the am 39, but . Officials in Washington have said it was. The Stark a guided missile frigate is equipped with a Phalanx close in weapon system composed of radar controlled 20mm galling guns designed to hurl 3,000 rounds a minute at incoming mis. Sties. Questions mount in aftermath How could the Stark attack have happened " Nicosia Cyprus a Why did the Stark a Modem warship loaded with equipment to defend against such a threat not try to shoot Down the Iraq Jet fighter or the exocet missiles it fired Ai the Ameri can frigate rear adm. Harold j. Burnsen commander of the . Navy s persian Gulf task Force said he did t know Why the ship did Noi take defensive action to thwart sunday night s attack thai killed 37 american seamen. Capt. Glenn Brindl who commanded inc Slark. Said the ship had Only a couple of seconds from the time the Crew became aware it was under attack until the missiles slammed into the vessel broadside and Sel off roaring fires. A Navy damage assessment learn was dispatched to Manama Bahrain to find the answers to that and other questions. Among the questions was the Start s level of Alert and technical Readi Ness sufficient for the circumstances the guided missile frigate was operating in a War environment where attacks on shipping occur almost daily. The iraqis considered a lesser threat Llian Iran had fired at least 90 exocet missiles at 40 ships in 340 air missions of similar profile in the previous nine months according to by men. Why was the ship s anti missile defense system not activated As bpm san described it in a news conference a patrolling .-manned airborne warning and control systems aircraft Hod tracked the iraqi plane from Takeoff and the Stark itself had tracked it for 200 Miles prior 10 the attack. Did the iraqi Pilot receive radioed warnings from the Stark . Officials say that when the iraqi plane went into an apparent attack pattern the ship twice queried it intentions by radio. But iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz said the Pilot received no warning from the . Ship and thought his target was an iranian vessel. How much Lime elapsed Between the second radio warning and the firing of the missiles did the Slark have Lime to upgrade its Alert status or switch its defensive systems from manual la automatic during this period Aziz said iraqi pilots usually launch missiles from Long distances and defense Secretary Caspar Wein Berger said the ship should have had 60 10 90 seconds to engage its defences once the exocet was fired from about 12 Miles away. Bui Brindel told a news Confer ence that the ship had Only a Malter of a couple of seconds to prepare before in was Hil. Why was the ship s Phalanx Anil missile Battery which is designed to fire on its own to Knock Down 01 deflect missiles in flight on manual rather than a Romalic Brindel said the system was intentionally kept on manual to avoid shooting Down the wrong target in the crowded airspace of the Gulf. If the Stark s radar had spotted incoming missiles would the ship have had Lime to take evasive action to avoid a devastating full broadside Impact the Slark was moving very slowly on an underwater mine detection sweep which might have made such Aman Euver difficult. How was it that a crewman could see a missile approaching at 10 Miles a minute in darkness yet radar Wilh a Range of Many Miles could not select two such weapons on the Way Bernson and urine Del said the exec cd was first spotted by a crewman on Lookout who notified the ship s combat information Center by Clephone just seconds before the Impact Brindel said the Stark was struck by two missiles one about 30 seconds after the other