Evening star., 1953-06-28
Voice in the Wilderness

In MS senate speech aCtacklng the cut III
: the air budget, Stuart Symington was voicing
essentially the same warning that he voiced
in somewhat similar situation seven years
ago when he was Secretary of the Air Force.
Little attention was paid to what he said then,
and the prospect is that little more will be
paid now. But in 1947 as events have con-
cluSively demonstrated, Mr.. Symington was
right Events may also prove him right in
1858. If so, for what small comfort there may
be in the fact the record has been made.
1t is not record which invites any COM
placency or casual dismissal of the warnings on
the ground that they come from a special
pleader with an ak to grind. On the contrary,
it is record which, in summary form, might
serve nicely as an epitaph for this Nation If
Russian bombers loaded with atomic weapons
should visit us within the next year or two.
To go back few years. the record, accord
ing to Senator Symington, shows that from vi
day in 1945 up to 1851 there never was mill
tary budget that even pretended to be based
on the defense needs of the country. The con-
trolling policy was the number of dollars that
could be saved, not the degree of defense re-
quired. At the time of Pearl Harbor the Air
Force had ga groups. During the war the total
scared to 273 groups, but by 1947 we were back
all the way to 38 groups. Congress, with Air
Force Secretary Symington leading the fight,
urged 20 groups and provided for So President
Truman impounded the money, with the result
that, first, there were 48 groups and then a
drop to AZ.
Meanwhile, there had been few STRINGS
of concern. In September, 1949, the Russians
staged an atomic explosion. The National
Security Council met to consider the effect of
this development on our security. full-scale
study was begun, and by October /, 1851, the
Joint Chiefs of Staff had concluded that an
Air Force of 143 wings (another descriptive
term, to be ready by mid-1954, was the mini
mum requirement to insure national security.
When the Korean war burst upon us in
June, 1850, we jumped to As wings. When the
Chinese Communists moved in we were shocked
by the discovery OF our deficiency in modern
combat planes. The Russian MIG-15 was
superior to anything we could put in the air
except the F-86 Sabre. And we had alarmingly
few of them. At one point we had to remove
all SabreS from the air defense of the United
States to put 125 Sabres in Korea against some
500 MICS. Later, we had to borrow 60 Sabres
which the Canadians had built for the British,
in order to maintain our strength in Korea.
AS of today we and the Canadians together
have produced some 1000 Sabres. The Rus
slams have been able to put an estimated 14OO
MICS in Chinese hands, equip their Polish
and Czech satellites with MICS, and still main
tain very large force of these jet fighters in
East Germany and Russia. From 800 to 400
twin-jet Russian bombers have been reported in
the Far East alone They are believed to have
in service now newer jet bomber with greater
range Our medium jet bomber force today
consists of three Strategic Air Command
groups equipped with Bats, and none of these,
according to Mr.. Symington can be classed as
truly combat ready.
In the long-range bomber category, we
have the advantage. But there is this sig
nifcant fact to remember: The Russians "now
have more than enough long-range bombers
to deliver an all-out atomic attack against
this country, and the United States has no
adequate defense against such an attack"
So this, in brief, is the record and the
background which Senator Symington cites
against the current $5-billion cut-approxi-
mately one-third-in the Air Force budget.
According to him, two facts stand out in the :
confusing testimony pro and con, with respect
to this cut. One is that budget reduction
money-was the primary consideration, not
national security: The second is that the
reductions were the decision of the new and
inexperienced civilian heads of the Defense
Department, without the concurrence of
single top military expert.
Against this is the statement by President
Eisenhower that he has personally studied the
proposed cut and its probable effects and that
he does not believe an unwarranted risk is
being taken. There is also a suggestion from
the House Military Appropriations subcommit-
tee that our current annual rate of jet aircraft
production is better than Russias.
Senator Symington seems to doubt that
the President actually has made much of
study, and cites from the testimony of others
in support of this belief. Still, the fact remains
that the President has spoken, and 1t is
highly doubtful that Senator Symington will
be able to make his voice heard above that of
the Chief Executive in the effort to restore
$1.4 billion of the cut.
So the Air Force, for years victim of this
very costly start-and-stop planning, seems to
be faced with the prospect of another slow
down and stretch-out. BY summer of next
year. when 1t is expected that the Russians will
have a sufficient Stockpe of atom bombs to
attack this country, we will not have the 143
wings for which the Joint Chiefs called in
upon whose estimates one believes upon whose
hopes one credits.
Perhaps the Russians will not attack, and
in that event all of this will become pretty
academic But on that score there can be no
assurance. And if an attack should come next
year we can expect to discover, in the ruins of
our cities, what General Hap" Arnold meant
when he said that second-best air force has
exactly the value of q second-best poker hand