Scrapbook 2: May 1962 — Gunnery, procurement, Bomarc

GUNNERS’ MANY ROLES IN WAR

An Honest John missile roars skywards as the firing button is pressed by RSM L. G. Prewett, of the Army Information Centre, who was the holder of the programme with the lucky number which entitled him to fire the missile at a demonstration at the School of Artillery, Larkhill, Wilts, yesterday.

Tactics & weapons demonstrated

By Brig. W. F. K. THOMPSON, Daily Telegraph Military Correspondent

IN the centenary year of the first appointment of “instructors in gunnery,” the School of Artillery, Larkhill, staged a demonstration for cadets and the public yesterday. All types of equipment used by the Royal Artillery were on view.

There was also Bluewater, the 75 mile surface to surface guided missile, which is not expected to be in service before 1964, and the self-propelled 105mm gun with a range of 11 miles, which will replace the 25 pounder in Germany.

MOBILITY DEMONSTRATED

New means of cross country mobility were demonstrated by C Battery of 29 Commando Regt. Royal Artillery, which since January has been in support of the Royal Marine Commando Brigade.

They moved a 105mm pack howitzer across country in hand trolleys after it had been dismantled. It was then carried across a water obstacle on wire cable and reassembled.

The method of getting guns up and down cliffs was also demonstrated, as was their transport by helicopter. When the three guns had been assembled, tanks were engaged.

ASHORE BY HELICOPTER

Ninety-four Amphibious Support Regt. demonstrated gunner observations parties going ashore by helicopter to direct naval gunfire. All members of this regiment are parachutists.

An Auster air observation post demonstrated tactical flying whilst ranging a battery of 5.5in howitzers. Two of the Austers belonged to 5 Regiment Royal Artillery in accordance with the recent policy of incorporating light aircraft in units.

Robert, the new field surveillance radar, and Green Archer, the new mortar locating radar, both demonstrated their ability to locate targets and direct fire against them.

WASHINGTON (UPI) — Senate investigators said here the Air Force rejected proposals for fixed fees on early Bomarc missile contracts and insisted on incentive provisions which cost millions of dollars in additional profits.

Staff investigators for the Senate investigations subcommittee testified that in negotiating incentive contracts with the Boeing firm, the Air Force had no production experience on which to base cost estimates.

Spokesmen for the General Accounting Office (GAO) testified that incentive contracts are seldom suitable when such cost data is not known.

The testimony was given as the subcommittee began a study of Bomarc procurement.

In an opening statement, Chairman John L. McClellan, D-Ark., questioned the use of incentive contracts. He said the subcommittee wanted to know whether the method used in buying such a weapon “has by its very nature generated unnecessary or excessive profits.”

Before digging into procurement of the nuclear-tipped antiaircraft Bomarc, the subcommittee took testimony from its staff which said Boeing made more than $900 million from almost $12 billion worth of business with the government over 11 years.

Working from a statistical table, subcommittee investigator Thomas E. Nunnally, on loan from the GAO, said Boeing’s annual profits before taxes varied from a low of 36 per cent of the company’s net investment in 1951 and 1960 to as high as 108 per cent in 1953.

Profit to Boeing

Subcommittee investigator Paul J. Tierney testified that Boeing’s 13 major contracts for the Bomarc missile cost the government $1,631,539,000 from 1951 to 1961 with $124,210,000 of the total representing profit to Boeing.

In April 1958, Tierney said, the Air Force contracted with Boeing for production of 78 A-model Bomarcs. The contract first called for a target cost of $112 million and an 8 per cent basic profit.

It provided incentive provisions under which Boeing could benefit from any lower production costs but pay for part of any additional expense.

Boeing had first proposed a fixed fee contract which would have set Boeing profit at 6 per cent of a slightly higher cost target.

The job finally cost the government about $94 million, of which some $12 million was profit to Boeing, Tierney said. He estimated that the Boeing proposal would have saved about $5.23 million.

In May, 1959, Tierney said, Boeing wanted a similar fixed fee arrangement on a contract for 116 Bomarc-B missiles and their installations. But under an incentive plan which was negotiated, the job cost about $191 million with some $20 million in profits, he said. The Boeing plan would have saved some $5.9 million, according to Tierney.

But Misses Glamor Role

Eglin AFB Doing Big Missile Job

EGLIN AFB, Fla. (UPI)—Cape Canaveral may be the glamor spot in American missilery, but much of the “bread and butter” work in developing U.S. missile strength is done at this sprawling Air Force test center tucked away in the Florida Panhandle.

Established in 1935 as the Valparaiso Bombing and Gunnery Range, the field has grown into one of the most complex research and development facilities in the Air Force.

Skybolt—the nation’s air-launched thermonuclear punch—was developed here and is still being tested by personnel from the Air Proving Ground Center (APGC). A ballistic missile, Skybolt is designed to destroy targets 1,000 miles away from where it is dropped from the wings of huge jets.

This is also the base where the Bomarcs—the ground-to-air missiles—were developed and tested. The Bomarcs, capable of destroying an enemy bomber or jet fighter 400 miles away from American soil, are now in operation and crews are being trained here.

Also under development here are the GAM77 and GAM83 air-to-surface guided missiles. The GAM83, designed for use from the F105 Thunderchief, is capable of destroying targets up to two miles away. The GAM77, capable of seeking out a target 500 miles away, also can be carried by the Strategic Air Command B52.

But missiles aren’t the only business here. Nearby Santa Rosa Island in the Gulf of Mexico is the scene of many a scientific probe.

Here APGC personnel conduct space launches at the rate of nearly one a day to help all the research agencies of the Air Force systems command and the Office of Aerospace Research.

Using the Nike-ASP, the Arcus Robin and the 42-foot, three-stage Exos rocket, the test center conducts tests into the characteristics of the upper altitude, tests recovery systems for space equipment, explores new communications theories and extends the knowledge of weather characteristics.

The tests are usually conducted over the Eglin Gulf test range, 45,000 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico, from the Florida Panhandle to Key West.

One of the busiest facilities here is the climatic laboratory. Want to find out how a new jet engine will react in minus 65 degree cold? Or how the Army’s newest tank will stand the strain of 115 degree heat? The laboratory can duplicate any climatic condition found on earth—and some that are strictly out of this world.