European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 7, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday january 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 Navy clears sub Hunter for improvement project faces grim financial Outlook in Congress Washington a the Navy awarded on thursday the Lockheed corp. A $52 million contract to build two prototypes of a new submarines Hunting patrol plane indicating the project cleared an internal Pentagon review. Last october after a spirited Competition the Navy selected Lockheed to develop a modernized version of its p-3c Orion sub Hunter. At the time however the Navy said i would not award a contract for full scale engineering development until after for Mal review of the program by the department of  that review by the defense acquisition Board occurred last month. Thurs Day s contract Means the Board com prised of the Pentagon s highest ranking acquisition executives approved the project despite a grim financial Outlook on Capitol Hill. The Navy said the $52 million was being awarded under a fixed Price incentive contract and covered the de sign development fabrication Assembly Gold loses its Luster a three singaporeans cover their faces As police in Bangkok. $120,000. Customs officials at Bangkok Airport found the Thailand show off 17.6 pounds of smuggled Gold bars Worth Gold hidden in specially designed shoes. And testing of two prototype planes. Work will be performed in Palmdale calif., and is expected to be completed i March 1993," the Navy added. The Navy expects the first prototype to Fly in september 1991 with production deliveries beginning in 1994. The Fly away Cost estimate for each plane is $39.1 million. Marcos Home offer release from Hospital Honolulu a former philippine president Ferdinand Marcos was resting at Home after spending a week Ina Hospital for treatment of congestive heart failure an aide said. Marcos 71, left St. Francis medical enter by private ambulance thursday accompanied by his wife Imelda an doctors said Hospital spokeswoman Norma Kop. Calls to Marcos physicians were no returned. Marcos spokesman Gemmo Trinidad said the ousted philippine Leader would have round the clock care. It was his second hospitalization in month. Marcos spent nine Days at St. Francis in december with what aide said was congestive heart failure a condition in which the heart is too weak to pump the amount of blood required bythe body. The condition causes Chest pain shortness of breath and fatigue and can be fatal. A Federal court hearing is schedule for Jan. 19 in new York to determine whether Marcos is healthy enough to be arraigned on racketeering charges. Prosecutors contend Marcos is Able to travel the defense says he is not. The Marc oses were indicted oct. 21on charges they plundered their Home land of More than $100 million an stashed much of the Money in the United states. Mrs. Marcos pleaded innocent and i free on $5 million bail but Marcos has not been arraigned because of ill health. The couple have lived in exile in Hawaii since they were ousted in 1986. High tech potato chips Check tender taters London a the age of the electronic potato has dawned in a scottish Laboratory. The new device dubbed the spying Spud is a Model potato stuffed with yes computer chips. It rides wit the real potatoes on their journey from Harvest to mar Ket monitoring the bumps sustained along the Way. The electronic potato is designed to measure the damage sustained by agricultural produce As it proceeds along conveyor belts harvesting machines and trading lines said or. Brian Witney director of the scottish Center of agricultural engineering which developed the device. In All these operations there Are various Steps or changes of direction and each time the potato changes direction it is bumped by other  the electronic potato is designed to reduce the num ber of potatoes that have be discarded because of bruises and is the Only one of its kind he said. We believe it s Superior to anything else being  the device looks like an Ordinary potato runs on batteries and represents the potato in terms of size approximate weight and surface texture Witney said. It comes in several sizes depending on the Breed of potato to be monitored. The smallest is 2.56 inches in diameter he said. On its surface Are two tiny digital displays that re Cord the hardest bump and the time it was  enables the Fanner to locate the pressure Point Cushion it and Send the spying Spud through again to locate the next worst trouble spot. It is available to Farmers for a Small fee through the government agriculture service and is being marketed overseas for $2,900 to $3,600 each Witney said. But potatoes he said Are Only the beginning. A1-.ready the lab outside Edinburgh is at work on electronic sugar beets and electronic tomatoes. Flight recorder from Jet that crashed in 87 recovered Johannesburg South Africa up american Salvage experts working at record Depths Friday recovered the flight recorder of a South african airways Boe ing 747 that crashed into the sea near Mauritius nearly 14 months ago killing All 159 people aboard officials said. The recorder was recovered by a miniature Remote controlled submarine from a depth of 13,200 feet 134 nautical Miles Northeast of Mauritius in the deepest such Salvage operation Ever conducted South african transport ministry spokesman said. Minister of transport affairs Eli Louw called the recovery a major achievement in the Field of aircraft Acci Dent  the Saa aircraft a Boeing 747 on flight from Taiwan to South Africa crashed in the Early hours of nov. 28,1987, during an approach to the Airport on the Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius. All 159 passengers mainly from Tai wan Japan and South Africa and the Crew were killed. Fewer than a dozen bodies were Ever recovered. Although evidence indicated an intense fire aboard the aircraft the cause of the crash has not been determined transport ministry spokesman Leon Els said. That s Why it s so important to Fin the voice recorder Els said. The search team is very optimistic that the recorder has not been  recovered shortly after Dawn the flight recorder is expected to be brought to South Africa sunday for cleansing and further examination Els said. The multimillion Dollar Salvage opera Tion is being carried out by the . Firm Eastport International. A number of other pieces of wreckage including Wing tips parts of the fuselage and the wheel under Carriage already have been recovered. The search team using a miniature sub Marine called gemini since the Middle of october was expected to resume saturday for two other technical data recorders. The submarine is equipped with camera and mechanical arms that enable it to pick up wreckage by Remote control