European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 4, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes . Monday tuesday july 4/5,1994troubled c-17 shows Airlift Power by the associated press Mcchord fab Wash. Here at Rodeo �?T94, a gathering of military Airlift. Specialists from around the world the c-17 military cargo plane is the Star attraction. A Small crowd of fliers contractors and journalists watched As maj Timothy Bender put the c-17 through a Battery of ground and air. Maneu vers. It Wasny to quite like a thunderbird air show but for a Ihm Bering cargo plane that looks like a Gray whale with wings the c17 put on a surprising display of agility. A this air plane is Rock solid a Bender said after parking the c-17 Globe master Iii next to the old c-124. A it is the smoothest and easiest plane in be Ever. unfortunately for Mcdonnell Douglas corp., builder of the $533 million aircraft the reviews from Washington arc not quite so glowing. Cost overruns and a Host of technical shortcomings have placed the c-17 on probation. An earlier plan to buy 120 of the air lifters has been scaled Down to 40. By november 1995, the Clinton administration will decide whether to go beyond 40 or buy a commercial alternative such As the modified Boeing 747 cargo plane built nearby in the Seattle area. A it makes great sense to keep All of our options open a said air Force Gen. Ronald r. Fogleman chief of the air mobility come. In a news conference in the belly of the c-17, Fogleman said the Craft is performing Well and is clearly needed. The question is Cost. But while Fogleman is officially undecided the air Force a from Secretary Sheila Widnall Down to the c-17 Crews out of Charleston fab a clearly wants the plane. And president Clinton has to worry about the 35,000 jobs in politically critical California that depend on the c-17 comes along at a time when a shrinking . Military increasingly demands Airlift to get soldiers and weapons to Remote hot spots. A the aircraft combines the attributes of its predecessors in one package like the propeller driven c-i30 Hercules it can land on Short unpaved airfields but carries much More cargo. Like the 1960s-Era c-141 Star lifter a plane so old its wings Are starting to crack the c-17 can be refuelled in flight but can carry larger vehicles. Like the Gigantic c-5 Galaxy the c-17 can carry an my tank a Patriot missile Battery and other outsize cargo but is much More Maneu Merable on the ground enabling More a a a a an air Force c-17 transport starts to go through its paces at Mcchord fab Wash in View of mount Rainier last week new Bird characteristics of the air Force c-17 Globe master 111 military transport planer Cost $533 million each or $21.3 billion for 40 Mcdonnell Douglas corp., Long Beach Calif. A general appearance squat wide body overhead swept Back wings with near vertical singlets on the tips. To shaped Tail four Wing mounted engines fear cargo door and ramp. R special characteristics capable of in flight refuelling can Back up on ground Able to land on 3,q00-foot dirt runways. R wingspan 165 feet a a r length 174 feet r fuselage diameter 22 feet 6 inches. R engines four Pratt amp Whitney f117-pw-100 engines each with40,700 Pounes of thrust. R cargo Bay 66 feet Long 16 feet wide. R maximum payload 172,200 pounds. R Gross weight fully loaded 685,000 pounds. R Range with 157,000 pounds of a payload 2,400 nautical Miles. R lasting Field length with maximum payload 3,000 feet. R plaits delivered 13 of 26 on order. R racial 1995 defense budget House and Senate Bills contain a finding for six More planes and Advance procurement Money for eight in 1996. Source a planes to unload at a time. _ the c-17 has a modern a a Glass cockpit with computer screens and a display that lets the Pilot look put the window and see key gauges at the same time. The cargo Bay is designed for simplicity. A Crew of three can Fly the plane compared with five in older air lifters. A a it a like a Cadillac. Its got All the Bells and whistles Quot said master sgt. Steve Hon Del a c-17 Load master. But the c-17 comes with a Cadillac Price $533 million per plane based on the current plan of buying 40 aircraft for s21.3 billion. And it comes with a laundry list of problems that have Cost millions to solve wings that failed stress tests an outmoded design system and engines that Cost More and burned fuel faster than anticipated. As with All major defense programs the Cost of each c-17 will go. Down the More the Pentagon buys As research and Deyell a amps Ozment costs Are spread Over More aircraft the problem is coming up with enough Money to buy in Quantity. To the Crews who Fly military cargo the Issue is starkly simple the Airlift Fleet is aging. The c-141,which the c-17 is designed to replace was the first Jet powered transport built for the air Force. A. Capt Keith Whyte a c-141 Pilot Puls it this Way a a in a like to Fly something maybe a Little younger than me. Time on America s Side in bottle with Japan Over Trade report says Washington a with a resurgent America and a recession battered Japan having reversed economic roles the a of the 1980s is outmoded says a think tank close to the Clinton administration. A a. A report re establishing americans place in the Sun by coincidence was issued wednesday the same Day Japan chose its second socialist prime minister in history Tomiichi Murayama. Author economist Paula Stern predicted that Murayama like his immediate predecessors would be a Short term prime minister. Despite policy making delays , a ultimately time is on America s Side a As japanese Consumers and others demanding economic deregulation gain strength. Stern is an International Trade specialist at the progressive policy Institute which published her 35-Pagc study. The Institute is operated by the democratic party a leadership Council. A Murayama Heads a new coalition of his leftist socialists and right of a enter Liberal democrats. The two sides agree on almost nothing except giving Murayama a trip to Naples Italy this month to represent Japan at the economic Summit of the seven major Industrial countries Stern said in an i Don t see his staying Long afterwards . In negotiations with Tokyo the . Government should shift emphasis to Radical deregulation of the japanese Domestic Market and stimulating japanese growth through consumption instead of haggling Over . Market shares for specific products Stern said. economic talks aimed at correcting the two countries Trade imbalance deadlocked earlier this year Over japanese refusal to accept numerical targets for Market share. Such targets a smack of managed Trade a Stern said. A allies in Asia and across the Globe Are Likely to be More supportive of the United if it is seen As pushing to grow the japanese Market not carve it up. Quot. another .-japanese Trade expert american University professor Stephen Cohen agreed that Japan s new governing coalition is a a classic marriage of convenience and those done to necessarily last a longtime a. But Cohen took Issue with Sterns Call to de emphasize specific product negotiations and concentrate on deregulation a the idea the japanese Are going to introduce structural changes recommended by the United states has slightly less than one Chance in a million of occurring a he said. A i suggest press for the attainable a namely specific Market shares in those products where the . Has world class life May have risen from asteroid dust new York a a huge ring of asteroid dust encircles the Sun and orbits it a study suggests. The ring May have helped life develop on Earth. The Earth is embedded in the ring just ahead of a bulging dust Cloud. The ring May help deliver dust from ground up asteroids to Earth researchers say. The dust is Rich in Carbon compounds that could have been among the Basic building blocks of. Life researcher Sumita Jayaraman said dust deposited billions of years ago by the ring might have helped life get started said Jayaraman a graduate student in astronomy at the University of Florida in Gainesville Jayaraman and colleagues including astronomy professor Stanley f. Dermott reported the work in thursdays Issue of the journal nature. A a
