Evening star., 1949-05-19
House Unit Requests
Defense Secretary
To Test Weapons
Seeks to Determine if
Billions for Big Bombers
Are Worth the Spending
By David Laurence

By David Laurence
The House Armed Services Com
r1ittee has Just taken an unpre-
cedented action-it has requested
the Secretary of Defense to con-
duct tests to determine whether
certain weapons of war for which
the Government is appropriating
billions are really worth the
money.
For several months now the
Nation has been told that its
security is assured because 1t
has the B-36 bomber. The Air
Force, proud of its weapon, has
given the impression that nothing
else mattered because the B-36
was able to fly at 10000 feet to
its target and could not be inter-
cepted.
Then the Navy came along
with it's recent announcement
that it had developed jet fighter
plane which could do the inter-
cepting. Up to that time. the Air
Force had claimed that its fighter
planes took % minutes to climb
to 10000 feet. The Navy now says
that its jet fighters can climb to
10000 feet in about seven
minutes.
Contention of Navy.
The idea is that radar would
notify the defense of the approach
of a B-36 from a considerable
distance off. The Navy contends
that its fighter planes can get
up to 10000 feet and engage the
bomber 100 miles or thereabouts
before it reaches the target.
Obviously If the Navy is right
about 1t, the security OF the
United States shouldn't be placed
on this one weapon. Also it is
evidence that a healthy rivalry
between the two aviation forces
is a good thing. The Naval and
Marine Corps aviation is a spe-
cialized operation in which many
years of research and training
have been vested.
Reports have been current that
the Secretary Of Defense didn't
want to make the tests and that
he felt it wouldn't aid the cause
of unification. The Nays re-
quest for tests from the Air
Force have not been accepted.
The Intervention, therefore. of
the House Armed Services Com
mittee Is really an attempt to
get at the facts about the B-36.
which Is more than can be said
of the way matters were handled
with reference to the sudden
termination Of the contract for
the improved aircraft carrier
called THE United States"
Impression Spread.
The impression has been spread
that strategic bombers confined
solely to the Air Force can win the
next war. The Navy agreed at
the Key West conference to play |
subordinate role in the use OF
heavy bombers, but 1t was con-
ceded then that heavy bombers
could be used on aircraft carriers
for various other purposes. No
action has been taken to rescind
the terms of the Key West agree
ment.
The Navy Is interested in both
long range bombers and fighter
planes. It needs them for de-
fensive purposes and to carry out
specific missions assigned to the
Navy-as, for instance. the laying
of mines in inland waters and the
destruction of submarine pens at
ports of the enemy.
The two aviation forces-those
Of the Navy and the Air Force
can be and in fact have been as
signed separate missions. The
fact that one can help out the
other in an emergency is not a
disadvantage but an advantage.
To say. therefore, that the Navy
must not have long-range bomb
ers for its own Navy purposes be-
cause these weapons could be used
for missions that would ordinarily
be performed by the Air Force. is
to say that the winning of the
war must be a monopoly of one
service no matter how long it
takes to do the job.
Secretary of Defense johnson
has approved the buying Of many
hundreds of millions of dollars
worth of B-36's without giving the
Navy chance to be heard on that
subject. though he Cancelled the
carrier contract on the say-so of
the other two armed services. In
the end. full and thorough dis
cussion and impartial tests of the
weapons should. clear up the
doubts and perhaps result in an
improvement of the B-36 bombers
and the fighter planes concerned.
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