European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 5, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday october 5, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 9 api Iio a b-2 stealth bomber makes a successful ground test in july in Palmdale Calif. Investigators have criticized a new proposal to fund the program which has been Cut.b-2, Navy funding plans draw fire by the Washington Post Washington a congressional investigators have accused the air Force of trying to double charge taxpayers $1.4 billion in its b-2 stealth bomber program. In another report they have also criticized the Navy for planning to spend another $2 billion on a sophisticated submarine tracking system that May not be Able to do its Job. The air Force is faced with contract Cost increases because of a Pentagon decision to Cut the number of b-2 bombers and slow the production schedule. Because of this the service proposed covering $1.4 billion in extra costs by charging taxpayers twice for two aircraft the general accounting office said. In addition the air Force planned to spend $558 million on parts and subsystems for bombers that have not been approved by Congress said the Gao the congressional watchdog Agency. Air Force officials said they were forced to devise the new funding proposal because the Price of the first 10 planes for production increased substantially when defense Secretary Dick Cheney Cut the b-2 program from 132 to 75 planes. A we Only had enough Money to pay for eight aircraft a a senior air Force official said. A we in Good Faith made a contractual arrangement and the assumptions changed  the official said that even though the Cost of the first production planes will increase because of the Pentagon program cuts the government will save $12.8 billion Over the life of the program. The 75 planes will now Cost taxpayers an estimated $68.2 billion. The Gao said the air Force plans to Cut two of the 10 bombers authorized and under construction and seek funding for those two planes in a future budget. Investigators said the plan a artificially eliminates the two aircraft and would use Money designated for those planes to pay for Cost increases on the eight other aircraft. The Gao report which has not been released was requested by the chairman of the House armed services committee Les Aspin. The Wisconsin Democrat sup Senate slices funding for space missions Washington up the Senate approved deep cuts wednesday in president Bush a funding request for a manned space station and refused to give any Money for his plans for manned missions to the Moon and Mars. By a vote of 90-8, the Senate passed a $78.6 billion 1991 appropriations Bill that included funding for several government bodies including Nasa the departments of housing and Urban development veterans affairs and the environmental Protection Agency. The measure goes to a conference committee to Iron out differences with the House appropriations Bill before being presented to the president. The Senate approved $13.4 billion for Nasa a $1.2 billion increase Over this years funding level but made dramatic cuts in key future projects. The total of $5.6 billion appropriated for Nasa research and development projects fell nearly $1.5 billion below the administrations request. The space station project under which the United states would establish a permanent station orbiting the Earth was tabbed for $1.6 billion $863 million less than Bush had asked. The report by the Senate appropriations committee said the funding Cut meant Nasa would either have to delay the planned 1995 launch schedule or restructure the program which could Lead to abandoning the permanent space station. The Senate shunned the proposed manned missions to the Moon and Mars a Cornerstone of Bush a desire for ambitious space explorations. The committee report called nasal a $500 billion estimate for the plan an  the administration had asked for $360 million in 1991 research and development funds for the project. Ports killing the b-2 program after the completion of 15 aircraft. Air Force Secretary Donald Rice proposed the plan after Congress turned Down other proposed methods of covering Cost increases the Gao said. A senior air Force official said wednesday that the four major congressional committees with defense department oversight agreed to the current plan to change funding. The air Force proposal would also spend $558 million on systems for bombers not authorized by Congress in an Effort to preserve favourable contracting arrangements Between Northrop corp., which builds the b-2, and its subcontractors the report said. In another review on a similar contracting Issue the Gao said the Navy is violating defense department policy with plans to pay $496 million for the first 28 sets of a problem plagued system for tracking submarines. The new computerized system has not been thoroughly tested and has been beset by production delays and poor performance investigators said. The Navy eventually plans to Purchase 240 of the systems for its submarine tracking aircraft at a Cost of about $2.1 billion the Gao said. The systems Are being produced by at amp to corp. For Boeing  aerospace and electronics division. The Gao said the Navy is Rushing the purchases of the partially tested avionics systems to beat contractor deadlines and avoid future Cost increases on the contracts. A possible Cost increases do not justify spending almost $500 million on a system that has not been thoroughly tested a the Gao wrote in a report prepared for the House government operations committee. A failure to conduct rigorous testing greatly increases the possibility for producing and deploying a system that fails to meet its Mission  a the Navy should not shortcut defense policies in this Way a the committees chairman rep. John Conyers jr., d-mich., wrote in a letter to Navy Secretary h. Lawrence Garrett Iii urging him to delay Purchase of the system until testing is completed.c-17 costs called political time bomb los Angeles a a confidential Pentagon analysis of the Mcdonnell Douglas  c-17 cargo Jet program shows a Cost overrun of up to $500 million a newspaper reported thursday. A company official acknowledged the overrun but disputed the figure. Unidentified defense officials told the los Angeles times that they expect the overrun to cause serious financial and political trouble for the aerospace company. A the real concern now is that this thing could blow up politically a a Pentagon source was quoted As saying. Mcdonnell Douglas vice president Michael Birch confirmed wednesday that the company Likely will overstep its $4.9 billion budget for developing the c-17, but not by $500 million. A we know it is going to be High but not that High a Birch said. Until last week the company was projecting that c-17 development would run $300 million below budget. The c-17 is being developed and produced in Long Beach at Mcdonnell a Douglas aircraft co. Subsidiary which employs 40,000 people. Last week the Pentagon said it stopped paying Mcdonnell for work on the cargo Jet after questioning the contractors project Cost estimates. The Pentagon has withheld $300 million so far. However Birch said a we feel confident that we can make Money on the c-17. We Are not going to do anything that hurts the Long term health of the  even with the Cost overrun Birch said Mcdonnell will not incur losses on the c-17 program until the combined ceilings of three different contracts Are exceeded. The contracts include the $4.9 billion development contract and two production contracts totalling $6.57 billion air Force spokesman capt. George Sillia said. Birch said Mcdonnell will borrow if necessary to overcome current problems with the c-17. A we still have adequate capacity to borrow a he said. A we still have hundreds of millions of dollars before we would exceed our debt  Mcdonnell is $2.9 billion in debt