European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 27, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily undeterred by More than 10 years of false starts testing delay Sand dwindling prospects of War against the soviet bloc the  air Force continues to develop an elaborate weapon called a runway Buster bomb to attack Warsaw pact airfields. American military officials want this is .6 billion program to develop 12.000 specialized bombs even though defense intelligence experts agree that the likelihood of a War in Europe has Laded dramatically in the last year and that the demise of the soviet Ted Warsaw pact military Alliance May be near. What s More intelligence reports disclosed last year that the Warsaw pact s Concrete runways Are twice As thick As the air Force had expected. That news alone put the munitions project on hold Las summer and prompted Congress to deny funding for it in the current budget. But air Force officials say they Are not discouraged a new round of tests is imminent thanks to some Money left Over from the last budget and a redesign of the bomb May be in the works. The air fore remains committed to a weapon that not Only blasts huge craters in the ground but spreads out dozens of land mines to disrupt or delay repairs. Our plans Are to go on and develop it said Cap. Larry Jenkins spokesman for the tac air corny. Officials at the munitions systems div at Elm fab. Fla. Where the project is managed said bidding for a full scale development contract already More than two years behind schedule May begin As soon As his summer. Virtually no one disputes the need for an anti Airfield weapon that can deny an enemy control of the skies. But the Story of the runway Buster pieced together from the a Force contractors the general accounting office and other sources raises fundamental questions about the military s penchant Lor developing a wide Range of state of the Art weaponry in an Era of huge Federal deficits changing Tiwary threats and revised War fighting strategies. Members of Congress budget analysts and defense experts already Are asking it the Pursuit of new aircraft and weapons including More glamorous projects like the radar evading b-2 stealth bomber i come at the expense of proven weapons systems and simpler cheaper alternatives critics of the b-2 argue Lor example that a $530 Mukon bomber designed to Fly deep into soviet airspace is an extravagance when cruise missiles May be effective enough to strike soviet targets after being launched from aircraft hundreds of Miles away. Left hold Back on the next generation of  said Stephen Alexis Cain an analyst with the defense budget project a Washington research group there should be an emphasis on continued production of the current generation of weapons Al efficient rates. Since the threat has declined most dramatically in Europe weapons designed for a deep strike Don t really fit into a philosophy of a defensive posture and our desire Lor cooperation with Eastern Europe he added. Lawrence j Korb a former Reagan administration defense official agreed it s important to ask where am i going to use All these things there s nothing wrong with having the technical ability to destroy Warsaw pact airfields but you Don t want to spend All that Money it you re not Likely to need  he added. Are the Western europeans going to allow us to attack East Germany Poland Al the Pentagon meanwhile a blueprint for military wide munitions purchases is being redrafted to pay More attention to third world contingencies and to discourage a tendency to design specialized bombs and missiles to kill a specific Large like an Airfield said George c. Kopcsak. Director of the Pentagon s munitions office Magazine the runway Buster o a of i a a i is a Sharon Kilday that May bomb declining to single out the air Force he said All the services needed to look at ways to provide More affordable munitions and one Way you do that is to make them cover a greater spectrum of  from the outset of the runway Buster project the air Force has wanted something that could penetrate Concrete explode below the surface to rupture the runway and disperse deadly fragmentation mines around the area. The weapon has been named the direct Airfield attack combined munitions or Daam. The design Calls for Daam to be a 92-Inch, 1.000-Pound torpedo like cannister containing eight explosive subunit Kris called bomb kinetic Energy Penetra tors and 24 mines that would detonate after a randomly set time or when disturbed. A lighter Jet flying As Low As 300 feet would drop the cannister which eventually would disperse its contents Over a target. Guided into position by Small fins and a Parachute each sub munition would have a pre programmed rocket motor to give it enough thrust to dive deep under the runway surface. The Impact would activate a time delay use setting off the warhead. The mines would fall around the runway each stabilized by a Small Parachute. On Impact Spring steel legs would be released to stand the mines on end. As produced by Hunting engineering ltd., of England the mines would contain High velocity slugs capable of penetrating mine Clearing vehicles. Although the israelis demonstrated the Utility of simpler French made runway cutting bombs As Long ago As 1967, the tac air come did not declare it needed this kind of weapon until March 1979, when it sent a classified request up the Chain of command. The cold War turned frigid later that year when soviet troops stormed into Afghanistan setting off tears of a possible East West military showdown. The original requirements specified that the weapon had to be Able to kill the toughest target you could pick namely hardened Warsaw pact runways said capt. Susan Brown a spokeswoman for the munitions systems div. A variety of . Aircraft including f-1s and f-16 fighters As Well As various nato aircraft had to be Able to carry the munition. At first the runway Buster was going to be a payload on a medium Range air to surface missile a project under the joint direction of a Navy air Force cruise missile office. But in May 1963, about six weeks after awarding a contract to Avo systems for the primary explosives the air Force decided to cancel the missile because As one official put it the service was trying to do too much with our current  the air Force kept alive us contract with Avo which later merged with text Ron defense systems and encouraged development of a generic munition that would later become the Core of Daam recalled de Josephson text Ron s director of marketing Lor tactical programs. About the name time civilian Welense officials pressured the air Force to begin buying about 8.000 French imports Matra aerospace s Durandal which were built to penetrate through 15.75 inches of reinforced Concrete pavements and aircraft shelters. By 1986, when full scale development of Daam was supposed to begin technical problems in the sub munition surfaced the Gao reported. A plan to award a development contract in december 1987 was scrapped when testing of the sub munition took until May 1988 to Complete. Last june the air Force suspended the bidding process because revised intelligence estimates indicated some Warsaw pact runways Are being overlaid with additional Concrete to More than double their thickness the Gao said. The exact thickness remains classified. The air Force is concerned that the sub munitions May not penetrate the improved runways to produce the desired damage said the Agency an investigative Armol Congress. For now the air Force reluctantly continues to rely on the French Durandal which lacks the mine dispersing feature of the Daam. Tests will begin at Eglin soon to see How several munitions including the text Ron sub munition the Durandal and a new smaller rocket powered Matra product called Samanta perform against a thicker test runway. If they penetrate Only Hall the thickness of Warsaw pact runways they re still pretty destructive said Gregory Williams a researcher with the project on military procurement a watchdog group. Considering that effective anti Airfield bombs Are being marketed by France. West Germany and other european allies he added it strikes me As strange the air Force has invested so much time in All  tuesday. February 1990 the stars and stripes Page 13