European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 17, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday october 17, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary Eric Schmitt . Stealth Edge Safe for the time being  mar rim it m a mfr fam it even As Washington and Moscow pledge to slash their nuclear and conventional arsenals military leaders still insist on the latest technology for their shrinking forces. The Success of american radar evading warplanes in the Gulf War has accelerated a new arms race to develop stealth technology which makes planes and other weapons More difficult targets. Japan and Israel Are building sleek new ships with smaller radar signatures. France is developing a cruise missile and Germany a remotely piloted reconnaissance aircraft with stealth features. Moscow is working on radar eluding planes. No other nation though is As far ahead As the United states in Fielding sophisticated Stealthy planes ships cruise missiles helicopters and in the future even tanks. A jealously guarded National Security secret since it was developed in the 1970s, advanced stealth technology has remained in american hands. But As military budgets shrink . Policymakers face an increasingly difficult Choice Between releasing enough information on stealth weapons such As the b-2 bomber to win congressional support and funding and keeping the technical details secret. A stealth is a revolutionary development a Gen. Merrill a. Mcpeak the air Force chief of staff said last week. A it will be very difficult for the air Force to buy Ever again another combat aircraft that does no to include Low observable  stealth or Low observable technology is a mixture of design and materials that absorb or deflect radar signals As Well As. Mask acoustic or heat signatures to help reduce the radar Cross Section of a weapon. While stealth aircraft Are not completely invisible to enemy radar the technology makes it very difficult to identify track and destroy a plane. The f-117 stealth fighter bombed Baghdad with impunity during the Gulf War. The air forces new fighter Jet the yf-22a, and the much larger b-2 Are designed to be even More Stealthy. Rarely in military history has one nation held such a quantum advantage in War technology As the United states does now with stealth. Alex Roland a military historian at Duke University who is writing a Book on the evolution of military technology in Western culture said an Early example of an upper hand in War fighting technology was had by the byzantines who in the 7th Century concocted a secret napalm like substance to defend their cities. In modern times the building of the atomic bomb conducted under the Manhattan projects extraordinary secrecy set a threshold for weaponry. Leaps in War technology Haven to always led to Battlefield Success. Britain introduced the first tank in world War i Roland said but commanders failed to train ground troops in How to exploit holes in enemy lines punched by the armoured forces. Stealth a Success in the Gulf War has whetted the appetite of american allies and potential foes to develop their own technology military commanders Saia. A others Are far ahead of us such As the . Stealth technology a new soviet defense minister Yevgeny Shaposhnikov said last month. A the soviet Union has to keep up even Speed up its  for the United states the Issue now is How to maintain the Edge. The Cost of keeping stealth secret is elusive. The general accounting office an investigative Arm of Congress estimates the Cost of Security for the b-2 a ranging from armed guards to Security clearances a at Between $30 million and $300 million. In the Case of the b-2, the Pentagon declassified most of the programs details once it sought to begin building its Fleet. Until then Only Pentagon officials and a handful of lawmakers with special clearances reviewed the program. # a you can keep it quiet for a while but when you Start spending $60 billion the rest of Congress will want to have their say a said Robert d. Murphy who oversees the b-2 for the general accounting office. Congress is now debating whether to build More b-2s a at a Cost $865 million each a beyond the 15 already ordered. The Pentagon wants 75 of the planes built. In contrast the f-117 was developed at a secret air base in the Southern californian desert. It was so classified that the defense department did not acknowledge the pro Grams existence until nearly 40 planes were flying. Under the same scrutiny facing the b-2, the f-117 would Likely have perished. Two Early f-117 prototypes crashed in tests and the first production aircraft crashed on its Maiden flight in 1981. A the Way things Are conducted today a successful program like the f-117 would have been cancelled a said maj. Gen. Joseph w. Ralston director of tactical aircraft acquisitions for the air Force who As a Young officer in the 1970s was a member of the original air Forte team overseeing the f-117 program. Military commanders and technical experts say the United states will retain its Lead in stealth technology for several years for no other reason than its huge head Start in developing the manufacturing techniques. A the trick Isnit the physics of stealth but the problems of a reducibility a said maj. Gen. Stephen b. Croker director of air Force strategic acquisition programs who described the allowable margin of error in building the b-2 at 1-10,000th of an Inch. But efforts by other nations to develop stealth a or technology to counter it a will Likely succeed eventually As they have with other technologies. As John m. Collins a senior military specialist at the Library of Congress said a the ability to keep stealth technology sacrosanct Over a protracted period of time will be  c Tho now York Olmos Ellen Goodman can t Tell the seasons even with a Vivaldi Bostons it was 75 degrees and the leaves on the Maple tree in my Yard were barely tinged with red. An entire division of bees flying in a tight winged formation that would put the Blue Angels to shame was competing for a Landing spot on the snapdragons. The raspberries we planted last year were offering their second Shabber growth. The Tomato plants in a fit of undue optimism had put out another set of Flowers. We Are talking apples. We Are talking foliage. We Are talking Indian summer. We Are most definitely not talking Reindeer and Large cheery men in red outfits. So Why Are there five Christmas Cata logs in my mail deck the Halls with boughs of pumpkin Jingle leaves Jingle leaves what is going on Here you could be planning for a three Day Columbus Day weekend and they Are into the 12th Day of Noel. We Are barely out of air conditioning and they Are offering Goose Down. We Are thinking of baked apples and they Are thinking of Fruitcake. Something no decent person should Ever think about at any time even my gardening Catalon normally a Paragon of Well bred and hybrid discretion is Hocking Holly wreaths in october instead of Tulip bulbs. Something is out of whack Here and for once you can to blame the greenhouse effect or chlorofluorocarbons. In the land of merchandising the seasons have Sim ply gone out of season. Where is Vivaldi when you need him he a in an air conditioned mall somewhere playing White Christmas on an Organ. I was once impressed to discover that Eleanor Roosevelt had completed All of her Christmas shopping by halloween. By today a standards she would be a procrastinator. My first hint that people were playing around with the Calendar happened when i went shopping for a bathing suit one july. The Sale clerk told me m the patronizing tone reserved for Small slow children that i was rather late to get a Complete selection. The suits began to arrive in Early april when i was occupied with other things like Chipping ice off my Windshield. I would like to blame this trend on places like California where they done to ave seasons and have always tried to undermine ours. In olde new England As olde As the Early 1950s, we still had a Strawberry season one Brief and luscious interlude followed by asparagus and Tomato. We ate what was growing around us and waited until it came around again. Postponed gratification was Good for our puritanical palates. Now we have something that masquerades As a Strawberry All year round. Every Winter salad is topped by something indistinguishable a in a photograph that is a from a Tomato. In a Blind tasting three out of four people wont be Able Tell the Tomato from the Strawberry. They Are dreadful and plentiful. Immediate non gratification. But its the merchants who Are playing Calendar Roulette. They have turned Lincoln a birth Date into a moveable monday lugged from one Day to another like a samples Case. They be put Washington a birthday continually up for Sale. And now they Are telling us that labor Day begins the Christmas season. The creation of one National mail order Market has produced Cata logs without the slightest respect for any season or Region. Their holidays Are now harvested transported and chemically ripened on the Way to your Home. The Only Date that has become inflexible is the one marked  remember All those Sappy movies that ended with the Young hero wishing that the spirit of Christmas could prevail All year round be careful what you wish for. You could end up with a Santa Claus costume for halloween trick or treat under the Mistletoe and a burning Yule log a electric of course a for thanksgiving. Even a plastic tree is going to Start dropping its Needles at some Point. Res not Nice to fool Mother nature. I refuse to fast Forward through the fall. I wont make a list and Check it twice think about who was naughty and Nice until the very last piece of leftover Turkey has been stuffed into the last unwary visitor who knows not the mysteries of fricassee. But i do see one tiny Glimmer of Hope in the preemptive strike of the Christmas Cata logs. Call me a cockeyed october Optimist but if Christmas is already Here can Spring be far behind c Tho Boston Globe