From: CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>
Subject: DoD News 08/11/92 
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 13:53:39 GMT


From CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>

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  <<>> Assistant Secretary Of Defense                                    <<>>
  <<>>        Public Affairs                     August 1992             <<>>
  <<>>    Pentagon, Washington DC       Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat      <<>>
  <<>>        DSN  225-3886                                      1       <<>>
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  <<>>  DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NEWS       9  10  11  12  13  14  15       <<>>
  <<>>                                  16  17  18  19  20  21  22       <<>>
  <<>>   TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1992       23  24  25  26  27  28  29       <<>>
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DoD News Briefing
Tuesday, August 11, 1992 - Noon
Mr. Pete Williams, ASD (Public Affairs)

     Mr. Williams:  Good afternoon.

     First of all, a reminder.  Secretary Cheney will host a full honor arrival
ceremony for Prime Minister Rabin this afternoon at 3:00 o'clock at the
Pentagon River Entrance.  If you're interested in coverage, you should contact
Bettie Sprigg down at the Directorate for Defense Information.  As you know,
the Prime Minister is also carrying the portfolio of Defense Minister, so he is
visiting the Pentagon both as Prime Minister and as Minister of Defense.  It
will be their first formal meeting with Mr. Rabin as the Prime Minister and
Minister of Defense, and I'm sure they'll talk about the security situation in
the Middle East, specifically about Israel's security situation, review the
situation in Iraq, and talk about other issues of interest.  I don't believe
that there's any business to complete at this meeting, but it will be an
important chance for the Secretary and the Prime Minister to get together and
talk about security issues.

     Q:  Will there be a readout on that?
     A:  Yes, we'll have a readout for you.

     Q:  Will they jointly meet with reporters?
     A:  I don't believe so.  I don't know what Mr. Rabin's plan is.

     Q:  But Cheney doesn't want to talk to the press?
     A:  There's no plan for us to do that.  We don't usually do that, you
know.

     Q:  Sometimes walking in, you do.
     A:  Very seldom, frankly.  I don't know of any plan to do that in this
case.

     General Powell, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is hosting a
meeting of all the CINCs, the U.S. unified and specified commanders in chief,
today and tomorrow.  This is the regularly scheduled, annual conference of the
unified and specified commanders and joint chiefs of staff.  The conference is
being held at Fort McNair, and they are all here.  That's ten of them.  General
Shalikashvili from the European Command, General Joulwan from the Southern
Command, Admiral Larson from Pacific Command, Admiral Miller from Atlantic
Command, General Hoar from Central Command, General Stiner from Special
Operations Command, General Horner from Space Command, General Johnson from
Transportation Command, General Burba from Forces Command, and General Butler
from the U.S. Strategic Command.

     Secretary Cheney is going to be visiting the Seattle, Washington, area
later this week.  He will speak to the luncheon meeting of the Discovery
Institute this Friday.  That will be at 12:30 Pacific time in the main ballroom
of the Westin Hotel in Seattle.  It's open to media coverage.  The point of
contact there is John Hammer, (206) 287-3122.  Before his speech he'll have a
news conference at 11:30 a.m., also in that same hotel.

     While in the Washington area, the Secretary will tour Fort Lewis and
McChord Air Force Base on Friday morning, and there are opportunities for
coverage at both locations.  The points of contact are the public affairs
offices at Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base.  At Fort Lewis, the contact
is Colonel John Lundberg, (206) 967-5014.  At McChord Air Force Base, Captain
Ray Martel, (206) 984-5637.

     Secretary Cheney will also address the dinner of the 20th Air Force
Association.  That's on the evening of Saturday, August 15th, at 8:30 p.m. at
the Washington State Convention Center, Exhibit Halls 4A and B in Seattle.
That's open, again, to media coverage.  The point of contact there is John
Misterly -- I assume he's from the 20th Air Force Association, because he is at
the Seattle Airport Hilton, (206) 244-4800.

     Just a note that the Secretary will present individual certificates to the
military people, active duty military people, who participated in the summer
Olympics.  He will hand those certificates to them tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. in
his conference room.  There will be a photo opportunity on a pool basis, just
because of the small size of the room.  If you're interested in that, again,
Bettie Sprigg at our Directorate for Defense Information is the contact.  We
have the list; the list is available from Bill Caldwell at the Directorate for
Defense Information.  There was one medalist in the group, and let me get that
name for you.  But this is just to honor those who. . .obviously it's an
enormous accomplishment just to be able to attend the Olympics and participate,
and the Secretary will acknowledge the participation of those who were there.

     Those are my announcements.  I'm pleased to take your questions.  I should
caveat you before we get into this that Steve Hadley, our Assistant Secretary
of Defense for International Security Policy, and General McCaffrey, the
Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, are up testifying before
Congress today on Yugoslavia, and I'm going to defer most of the questions on
Yugoslavia to their testimony, so I'll warn you of that in advance.

     Q:  What will the Secretary be doing all day Saturday in Seattle?
     A:  I'm not entirely sure, yet.  I have not seen a firmed up schedule yet
for Seattle, so I don't really know yet.

     Q:  Is he coming back to Washington on Sunday?
     A:  Yes, he'll come back Sunday morning, because of the Saturday night
event.  Part of the visit there is to tour some Boeing facilities.  I think
that will be on Friday.  But this stuff isn't all firmed up yet.

     Q:  Any comments on the Senate stance on the FY93 budget bill?
     A:  The Defense Authorization Bill?

     Q:  Yes.
     A:  As I understand it, Senator Nunn has decided not to pursue it right
for the moment, because he's concerned about the potential votes on SDI.  We
would hope that the Senate can, after the August break, come back together and
come up with a bill that's acceptable to the Administration.  We look forward
to working with them to achieve that end.

     Q:  As a followup to that, though, if there is no agreement reached, it
means FY93 levels are the same as FY92 levels in funding.  What impact is that
going to have on the long-term plans of the Pentagon to draw down the budget?
     A:  Remember, first of all, that this is the authorization bill and not
the appropriations bill.  The appropriations bill is, as far as I know, it's
moving along.  So I suppose, at the very worst, we face the possibility that
the Congress will enact an appropriations bill, but won't have acted on an
authorization bill.  I don't want to predict what would happen here, but
obviously, we would have to work with Congress on how we would proceed in that
case.  But I think you can't rule out the fact that we might get an
appropriations bill and not an authorization bill.  So the appropriations bill
would probably contain the right dollar amounts in it for us to continue the
drawdown.

     Q:  Senator Nunn's committee this morning approved a great many Navy and
Marine Corps promotions, saying they had received certification from the
Pentagon as to clear it on the Tailhook matter.  Does this complete the list
that had been held up because of the Tailhook investigation?
     A:  Let me double-check that.

     Q:  And can you tell us, of those original 5,000 or whatever it was, how
many were rejected because of a Tailhook connection.
     A:  I'm not aware of any that were rejected, but we'll double-check that
for you.  Maybe we can get the answer before the end of the briefing.

     Q:  Do you have any comment on Ross Perot's allegation today that
officials in the Department of Defense and elsewhere in the U.S. government
covered up evidence that there were live Americans in Southeast Asia?
     A:  I haven't been able to see Mr. Perot's testimony.  I think it's still
going on, the last I checked.  I've been trying to listen to that and the
Yugoslavia (testimony); there's been a lot going on this morning.  The
President's news conference.  It's a similar accusation that he's made before,
and I think the statement that we've made in the past that we've never been
able to substantiate any evidence to support his claims will have to stand
until we can take a closer look at his testimony.

     Q: Concerning Yugoslavia, does the Secretary have any plans to travel to
NATO Headquarters in the foreseeable future for meetings of the Defense
Planning Group?
     A:  The next meeting of NATO Ministers that I know of, NATO Defense
Ministers, is the Nuclear Planning Group meeting which I think is October in
Scotland.  Then the other Defense Planning Committee meeting is in December in
Brussels.  Those are the only two meetings of Defense Ministers that I know of
this year.  The only two remaining ones.

     Q:  Should NATO become involved in Yugoslavian matters, do the ministers
have to physically meet?  Could they sign off on the telephone?  What is the
procedure that you anticipate?
     A:  It's a little hard to know exactly how it would work.  But as a
general matter, just the way NATO works, it would not be necessary for Defense
Ministers to get back together.  There is a permanent standing military
committee, and we have representatives on that committee, who are based in
Belgium, who are able to meet and make decisions.  There's also a U.S.
permanent representative to NATO, the so-called U.S. Ambassador to NATO.  So we
certainly have the instrumentality in place to be represented at NATO
decision-making meetings.  So it's not necessary for defense ministers of
foreign ministers or heads of state to go there and be there to make a
decision.

     Q:  For my lack of background, maybe you can fill in.  Who is our
representative to the permanent standing military committee?
     A:  Let me find out who that is.  We've had some changes here recently,
and I'll find out who it is.

     Q:  Is that committee scheduled to meet anytime soon?
     A:  They've been meeting on and off for the last month or so, but let me
check for you.

     Q:  There's no decision-making meeting...
     A:  Not that I know of, no.

     Q:  Since the last briefing, the U.S. has moved some people into the
Yugoslav region.  You have 12 Air Force cargo handlers on the ground now in
Zagreb.  And as we learned today, a search and air rescue element has now also
moved into the Adriatic.  Can you fill in the blanks and give us an update on
the number of ships and people that we have in that region?
     A:  First of all, it's not a new development that we have a search and
rescue element in the Adriatic.  That's the reason we moved the Iwo Jima and
the Biddle in there in the first place -- part of the reason we moved them in.
We moved them in to provide two functions.  Those are being performed today,
still, by different ships.  I'll get into that in the second part of your
question.

     But just to make it clear, when we first moved the Iwo Jima and Biddle
into the Adriatic some weeks ago, they were there to provide communications and
command and control support for the U.S. flights into and out of Sarajevo and
Zagreb, and to have a search and rescue capability there as well.  That's what
the helicopters are for.  The Aegis cruiser provides the radar tracking and
communications capability.

     What we have in the Adriatic now is the amphibious transport dock ship
Trenton, which has relieved the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima of duties in
the Adriatic in support of that mission.  Trenton has about 250 Marines of the
26th Marine Expeditionary Unit on board, and it has four CH-46 or so-called Sea
Knight transport helicopters.  The Iwo Jima has left the Adriatic.  It will
conduct a port visit in Ancona, Italy, starting Wednesday.

     The Aegis cruiser Gates is in the Adriatic in support of Provide Promise.
So you originally had the Biddle and the Iwo Jima.  Now you have the Gates and
the Trenton as the Aegis cruiser and amphibious ship to provide that command
and control, communication, and search and rescue capability.

     As for the rest of the situation in the Med, overall, including the ships
that I just mentioned, there are 18 U.S. ships in the Mediterranean.  That
includes the Saratoga, three cruisers, one destroyer, two frigates, five
amphibious ships, and six auxiliary ships.  To make it clear, the Gates and the
Trenton are two of those 18.  The Saratoga, the aircraft carrier, is conducting
a port visit to Rhodes, the island of Rhodes, through Wednesday.  I've talked
to you about the Gates and the Trenton.  The Standing Naval Force Mediterranean
ship, the USS Jack Williams, is visiting Augusta Bay, in Sicily.

     As long as we're on the subject of ships, as long as I'm at this tab, in
the Red Sea we have seven ships -- a cruiser, two destroyers, three frigates,
and an auxiliary ship.  In the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and Northern
Arabian Sea, 18 ships.  That includes still the carrier Independence, which is
still in the Gulf, the command ship LaSalle, two destroyers, two frigates,
three cruisers, four amphibious ships, and four auxiliary ships.  The maritime
prepositioning ship motor vessel PFC James Anderson has also entered the
Persian Gulf on its way to Kuwait for the exercises that are going on in Kuwait
right now.

     Q:  Where is the 26th MEU from?
     A:  Let me check on that.  I don't have that here.  The question is, where
is the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit from?  I'll have to check on that.

     Q:  Has Iraqi fighting against the Shiites intensified in the last week or
so?
     A:  No.  I think the best way to describe the situation in Iraq now is to
say that there's been no significant change over the past several days.
There's a minor counter-insurgency that continues in the south, that's a
pattern that's been going on for several months.  No significant military
activity in the north except for some low-level exercises of Iraqi troops.
But, again, that is not an exceptional variation or departure from their
practices over the past several months.

     Q:  The inspections, how are they going?
     A:  As far as I know, and again, the UN would be the best place to go for
that, but I've heard of no problems with the inspections.

     Q:  Can you give a people count at all in the Yugoslav region?  We have
the 12 cargo handlers that came out over the weekend, and then I think General
McCaffrey said today Army personnel are also in the region.  What role do they
play?  I've not heard of Army people yet over there.
     A:  I'll have to look into that, Mark.  I don't know what he's referring
to.  Yes, we have the 12 people who are from the Air Force.  They're deployed
by the U.S. European Command.  There are 12 Air Force personnel from the 4th
Mobile Aerial Port Squadron, MAPS, that are supporting the UN request for
assistance in Zagreb.  That unit is stationed at Rhein-Main Air Base in
Germany, and it's been sent there to help improve cargo handling and operations
in support of Provide Promise.  It's a unit that goes into bare base locations
to help equipment load and unload.  But I don't know of any other personnel
there on the ground.  I'll have to check, Mark.

     Q:  On operation Laser Fury, is it still anticipated that they will start
packing up their gear and go home on the 13th?
     A:  Native Fury?

     Q:  Native.
     A:  The one that's going on in Kuwait right now.  Let me give you a little
rundown on where we stand on those exercises.

     Eager Mace, which is the other exercise, but I'll start there, the
amphibious field training exercise that began on August 3rd, continues with the
live-fire maneuver training phase.  That means that forces are inland about 54
miles north of Kuwait City conducting training and combined arms operations,
close air support, close-in fire support, combat engineering operations,
special operations, combat service support operations, and command and control.
That will continue until later this week, and that exercise is scheduled to end
on August 19th, next Wednesday.

     Q:  It will end as scheduled?  They're not going to be held there?
     A:  Not as far as I know.

     Native Fury, the other one you asked about, also continues.  It began on
August 3rd.  The main body of forces flew into Kuwait International Airport
last week, and that's the maritime prepositioned force exercise.  In an
exercise like that, the personnel fly to the area, they meet up with the
prepositioning ships that carry the equipment, and as I referred to earlier,
the motor vessel PFC James Anderson has arrived in the Persian Gulf and is on
its way to the coast of Kuwait for the exercise.

     I don't have an end-date for that exercise here, but I'll try to get that
for you.

     The third exercise is the Army exercise, the Army prepositioned exercise.
Just to avoid the confusion, this is where Army units match up with
prepositioned equipment that is on the ground in Kuwait.  The Marine exercise
marries up with the prepositioned ships.  That one will include the two
mechanized infantry companies and two armor companies, along with their combat
and combat service support units from the 1st Cavalry Division and 13th Corps
Support Command at Fort Hood, Texas, and also a special forces element from the
5th Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.  They're continuing to go
into the region.  Right now the advance element is still there.  It's about 300
people there.  We expect, as you know, to have about 2400 people there by the
time the exercise gets into full swing.  So the main body of the exercise
hasn't arrived yet.

     The 26th MEU is from Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, and Marine Corps
Station New River, North Carolina.

     Q:  Have there been any other instances where Aegis cruisers in the
Adriatic have painted any Yugoslav high performance aircraft that might have
flown out from the mainland?  Are they flying any of their high performance
aircraft?
     A:  I haven't heard of any incidents since the one of several weeks ago
that we described to you, which involved, I think, the Biddle.  I haven't heard
of any other reports, and I don't know that we ever confirmed exactly where
those aircraft came from.  But there have been no other reports that I know of,
of aircraft challenging those ships or flying close to them, or illuminating
them with their radar or anything like that.

     Q:  How far have you gone in terms of gearing up for this passage of the
UN Security Council resolution that would authorize all necessary measures to
ensure that humanitarian shipments get in?
     A:  That's one of those questions I think I'll defer to Mr. Hadley up on
the Hill in his testimony.

     Q:  Can you describe our level of assistance in the search for Escobar?
     A:  Not beyond what we've already said.

     Q:  Nothing's changed there?
     A:  No.

     Press:  Thank you.

                                 END


HOLD FOR RELEASE
UNTIL 5:00 P.M. (EDT)		AUGUST 11, 1992		(703) 697-5131 - Info

                             DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
                                CONTRACT AWARDS

                                     ARMY

	Highway, Constructors, Incorporated, Marston, North Carolina, is being
awarded a $7,421,000 firm fixed price contract for construction of site
development and basic infrastructure for new 920,779 square feet hospital
(phase I only).  Work will be performed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and is
expected to be completed by August 30, 1993.  Contract funds will not expire at
the end of the current fiscal year.  There were 120 bids solicited on April 16,
1992, and 10 bids received.  The contracting activity is the U. S. Army Corps
of Engineers, Savannah, Georgia (DACA21-92-C-0073).

                          CIVIL WORKS - NON MILITARY

	Lemke Industrial Machine, Incorporated, Marathon, Wisconsin, is being
awarded a $380,000 increment as part of a $5,594,686 firm fixed price contract
for major rehabilitation, Mississippi River.  Work will be performed in
Marathon, Wisconsin, and is expected to be completed by September 16, 1994.
Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  There
were 108 bids solicited on May 12, 1992, and 14 bids received.  The contracting
activity is the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul, Minnesota
(DACW37-92-C-0018).

                                     NAVY

	Teledyne Systems Company, Northridge, California, is being awarded a
$9,752,000 modification to exercise an option to a firm-fixed-price contract
for procurement of 23 communication control group (OK-497/A/I) systems for the
S-3B aircraft.  Work will be performed in Northridge, California, and is
expected to be completed by November 1994.  Contract funds in the amount of
$424,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was
not competitively procured.  The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting
activity (N00019-88-C-0009).

	McDonnell Douglas Corporation, McDonnell Aircraft Company, St. Louis,
Missouri, is being awarded a $20,100,000 modification to a firm-fixed-price
contract to upgrade the F/A-18D training systems.  Work will be performed in
St. Louis, Missouri (30%), and Los Angeles, California (70%), and is expected
to be completed by July 1994.  Contract funds will not expire at the en dof the
current fiscal year.  This contract was not competitively procured.  The Naval
Air Systems Command is the contracting activity (N00019-90-C-0010).

                                   AIR FORCE

	International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, ITT Avionics Division,
Nutley, New Jersey, is being awarded a $6,400,000 face value increase increase
to a fixed-price-incentive contract for eight organizational level test program
sets to suport the AN/ALQ-172(V)2 electronic countermeasures system on the
B-52H aircraft.  Contract is expected to be completed in July 1993.  Contract
funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Warner Robins
Air Logistics Center, Robbins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting
activity (F33657-83-C-0150, P00403).

							END


HOLD FOR RELEASE
UNTIL 5:00 P.M. (EDT)		AUGUST 10, 1992		(703) 697-5131 - Info.

                             DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
                                CONTRACT AWARDS

                                     ARMY

	Dillingham/ABB Susa (A Joint Venture), Pleasanton, California, is being
awarded a $163,411,000 firm fixed price construction contract for Peace Vector
(PV IV), Phase II, Main Operating Base Upgrade.  Work will be performed in
Sakara, Egypt, and is expected to be completed by February 14, 1994.  Contract
funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  There were 11
bids solicited on April 1, 1992, and 4 bids received.  The contracting activity
is the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Winchester, Virginia (DACA78-92-C-0068).

                                     NAVY

	J.W. Cook & Sons, Inc., Whiteville, North Carolina, is being awarded a
$10,108,300 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a main exchange.
Work will be performed at the Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina,
and is expected to be completed by October 1993.  Contract funds will not
expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was competitively
procured with five bids received.  The Naval Facilities Engineering Command,
Atlantic Division, is the contracting activity (N62470-92-C-2018).

	Integration Technologies Group, Inc., Falls Church, Virginia, is being
awarded a contract for Lot 5 of Solicitation N66032-91-R-0009.  The contract
has an estimated life cycle value of $10,344,226 with one base year and seven
optional years for line termination devices with enhancements, software,
manuals and documentation, maintenance and training.  Work will be performed in
Quantico, Virginia (20%), Camp Lejeuene, North Carolina (20%), Albany, Georgia
(20%), Camp Pendleton, California (20%), Kansas City, Missouri (10%), and
Okinawa, Japan (10%), and is expected to be completed by September 1993.  This
contract is intended to enhance the Marine Corps data communications network
and was competitively procured with 82 bids solicited and five bids received.
Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The
Information Technology Acquisition Center is the contracting activity
(N66032-92-D-0014).

                                   AIR FORCE

	Halliburton NUS Environmental Corporation, Gaithersburg, Maryland, is
being awarded a $25,000,000 indefinite-quantity contract for removal of
underground and above-ground storage tanks and contaminated soil at various
locations in the United States and U. S. Territories where the Air Force has
responsibility to participate in clean-up activities.  The work will be
performed at various locations in the United States and U. S. Territories.
Contract is expected to be completed in August 1995.  Contract funds will not
expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  Three hundred and thirty-three
bids were solicited and eighteen proposals were received.  The solicitation was
issued in March 1992 and negotiations were completed in July 1992.  The Human
Systems Center, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, is the contracting activity
(F41624-92-D-8006).

	Metcalf and Eddy, Incorporated, Wakefield, Massachusetts, is being awarded
a $25,000,000 indefinite-quantity contract for removal of underground and
above-ground storage tanks and contaminated soil at various locations in the
United States and U. S. Territories where the Air Force has responsibility to
participate in clean-up activities.  The work will be performed at various
locations in the United States and U. S. Territories.  Contract is expected to
be completed in August 1995.  Contract funds will not expire at the end of the
current fiscal year.  Three hundred and thirty-three bids were solicited and
eighteen proposals were received.  The solicitation was issued in March 1992
and negotiations wire completed in July 1992.  The Human Systems Center, Brooks
Air Force Base, Texas, is the contracting activity (F41624-92-D-8002).

	Ogden Environmental and Energy Services Company, Incorporated, Nashville,
Tennessee, is being awarded a $25,000,000 indefinite-quantity contract for
removal of underground and above-ground storage tanks and contaminated soil at
various locations in the United States and U. S. Territories where the Air
Force has responsibility to participate in clean-up activities.  The work will
be performed at various locations in the United States and U. S. Territories.
Contract is expected to be completed in August 1995.  Contract funds will not
expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  Three hundred and thirty-three
bids were solicited and eighteen proposals were received.  The solicitation was
issued in March 1992 and negotiations were completed in July 1992.  The Human
Systems Center, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, is the contracting activity
(F41624-92-D-8007).

						END



-- 
         
      // \\
    //     \\                    Air Force News Agency 
   |         |               Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, USA
   \\  {*}  //                   bergman@afpan.pa.af.mil  
   \  CMSgt  /      ___________________ /____________________________________
   \  Mike   /   
   \ Bergman /
     \     / 



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