European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 16, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday september 16, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 $12 part holds up missile program defects delay Omraam deployment Washington not defects in a $12 circuit Board have forced the Pentagon to delay deployment of the newest fighter launched missile and have raised doubts about the effectiveness of tens of thousands of other missiles fired from aircraft. Because of the defective Board new fuses will have to be installed in the Navy s Phoenix missiles which have been plagued by other manufacturing problems. The advanced medium Range air to air missile or Omraam will not be installed aboard the Navy f-18 and the air Force f-15 fighters until a new source for the arming switches is found. The official actions were disclosed in defense department documents made Public wednesday by the project on military procurement a private re search group that is critical of Pentagon spending practices. Replacing the fuses in the Phoenix missiles and delaying the Omraam deployment will be expensive but will not affect the military s ability. Production of two other widely used missiles the Sparrow and the sidewinder will be hampered slightly the documents said. Pentagon officials said thursday that there were no proved cases of a missile not exploding because of a failure in the circuit boards staler switches that arc carried by most of the mis Siles being used in Navy and air Force fighters. But the fact that the circuit which helps Arm a missile s warhead just before it is fired docs not meet defense department specifications Means a Pilot cannot be certain that the missile being fired at another warplane or an object on the ground will actually explode when it reaches its target the officials said. Pentagon and congressional officials said the Navy which oversees the Purchase of arming switches for its own and other services fighter missiles had been warned for years that the reliability of the parts was in doubt. But the officials said that the Navy continued to Grant waivers to the subcontractor to keep the production lines moving. The Case which the los Angeles times brought to Light in March illustrates the Way weapons programs costing billions of dollars can be hampered by prob lems with simple devices. In this Case it is a device that is no More complicated than a circuit that switches a washing machine from spin to rinse. This is a classic Case of the loss of a kingdom for want of a Nail said Dina Rasor director of the project on military procurement. The Case also underscores the pressure on Pentagon buyers to Purchase weapons even if defective to avoid delays in programs and unfavourable publicity. The people in the Field want the darn weapons and you Don t want to Tell them that you be messed up either in the design or the procurement pro Cess said Norman Polmar a leading Navy analyst. You want weapons that work but at times you order weapons that you re not sure will work in the Hope that they  a Navy spokesman u. Bruce Cole said it was too Early to say How much of a setback it was to the am Raam and Phoenix programs but in the Short term the Fleet s got a full bag of missiles he said. There this is a classic Case of the loss of a kingdom for want of a  Dina Rasor in t a problem unless All of a sudden we re expending a lot of missiles which we Don t anticipate in a letter to defense Secretary Dick Cheney about the missile problems. Rep. John Dingell d-mich., quoted from a Navy audit in May that found the Pentagon s specifications were not met by any Cir Cuit boards manufactured by the Asher engineering corp. Of Baldwin Park calif., and put into arming switches made by the i cronies International corp. Of Bra. Calif. Other documents said Asher s testing records were incomplete but added that the circuit boards should not be used in such a critical application and spoke of the potential serious Hazard to personnel aircraft and  p. Addison Appleby chairman and chief executive officer of precision Carol sch inc., which owns i cronies International said thursday that Micron is believed that the circuits from Asher engineering were sound and had been properly tested. But he said the defense criminal investigation service which is investigating both i cronies and Asher suspected that the test results were improperly recorded and confiscated All of Asher s records. Hen Asher president of Asher engineering did not return Telephone Calls thursday. On aug. 29, the Pentagon issued a citation against i cronies cutting off All purchases of arming switches from the company which was the sole source for the Phoenix and the Omraam. The action put the company one of six precision a Crotch subsidiaries in bankruptcy. In a sept. 7 memorandum to the chief of naval operations the head of the naval . Vice adm. Joseph b. Wilkinson jr., said the move would mean stopping Phoenix production for up to six months. He said the Navy would have to refit already built missiles with older fuses and then find a new source for arming switches. The Navy has ordered 2.528 of the missiles so far. At a Cost of $2.8 billion but few arc actually deployed according to figures supplied by another re search group the defense budget project. Deployment of the Omraam aboard the f-15 was scheduled for december but that will have to be delayed along with deployment on the f-18, while a new source for the switches is found the documents show. Thus far the air Force has spent $3.5 billion to order 1,480 of the missiles with i cronies switches. I cronies is also a supplier for the sidewinder and Sparrow missiles Cornerstones of the current arse Nal. Wilkinson said shortages could be made up quickly through other sources. Dingell noted in his letter to Cheney that the Asher circuit had been used by most of the nation s aircraft rocket manufacturers in harm and Maver ick air to ground missiles Harpoon anti ship mis Siles and Standard anti radar missiles. In our first raid on Libya we used both harm and Harpoon missiles which contain Asher Slator switches he wrote. During that raid at least 25 percent of the harms and harpoons did not detonate. However since those missiles were not recovered it is impossible to determine the Impact of substandard Asher stator switches on the detonation  broken in half by typhoon a crowd on the Beach at Halien Tai panamanian freighter lung Hao which fury of typhoon Sarah. Thirteen people wan wednesday views the 12,000-ton spit into two pieces monday under the died in the storm that battered Tainan. Navy ship rescues 32 boat people Subic Bay naval base Philippines a a . Navy ship res cued 32 vietnamese refugees aboard an in seaworthy Craft in the South China sea and brought them to this .-run base 50 Miles Northwest of Manila the Navy said Friday. A statement by the Navy s 7th Fleet said the vietnamese were found last monday by the Salvage and Rescue ship Beaufort about Iso Miles South of the vietnamese coast. Navy officials said the 12 men five women and 15 children were in Gener ally Good condition except for one in Fant suffering from a rash. But they were taken aboard the Beaufort because their 40-foot vessel was in seaworthy and lacked navigation equipment and food the Navy said. The vietnamese arrived thursday at Subic Bay the Beaufort s next port of Call where they were turned Over to philippine authorities. According to the . High commissioner for refugees 587 vietnamese boat people arrived in the Philippines last month