bergman@afnews.af.mil (CMSgt Mike Bergman) (06/25/91)
From: CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.af.mil>
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<<>> *-*-*-* AIR FORCE NEWS SERVICE, JUNE 24, 1991 *-*-*-* <<>>
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-- Women in combat
-- B-2 decision
Women in combat
by SSgt. Sarah L. Hood
Air Force News Service
WASHINGTON -- The Air Force chief of staff will recommend a
gender-neutral assignment system be used to fill all positions,
should the combat exclusion law be changed to allow women to fly
combat aircraft.
The Air Force doesn't believe in artificially barring anyone
from doing any job, Gen. Merrill A. McPeak told members of the
Senate Armed Services Committee manpower and personnel
subcommittee. General McPeak and the other service chiefs
gathered on Capitol Hill June 18 to discuss the utilization of
women in the military.
Should the law change, all positions, including combat
aircraft, will be filled "with the 'best qualified' man or woman
selected for each position, according to a single set of
standards," he said. "Such an assignment policy would have to be
phased in over time."
A bill to lift the ban on women in combat was initiated by
Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., who offered an amendment to the
bill to cover the Air Force. Personnel Subcommittee Chairwomen
Rep. Beverly B. Byron, D-Md., amended Mrs. Schroeder's proposal to
include the Navy. The House Armed Services Committee voted May 8
to let Air Force and Navy women pilots fly combat missions.
Responding to the action, Air Force officials applauded the
accomplishments of Air Force women but are waiting until a
specific law is enacted before fully assessing the impact and
developing plans for implementation.
"Air Force employment of women today is guided by strict
adherence to the combat exclusion law and DOD (Department of
Defense) 'Risk Rule,'" General McPeak said.
Ninety-seven percent of Air Force positions are currently
open to women. All officer career fields are open to women. But
combat exclusion law doesn't allow women to be assigned to
aircraft that engage in combat missions or operations that expose
them to direct combat, hostile fire or capture.
These include fighters, bombers, gunships, forward air
controllers, most helicopters and some reconnaissance aircraft.
Open to enlisted women are all but four career fields. Those
excluded are defense aerial gunner, pararescue and recovery,
combat control, and tactical air command and control.
"There's almost a universal consensus that any woman who
wants to do that, is physically capable and can pass the standards
for it, ought to be allowed to do it without any artificial
impediments being placed in her way," the general said.
General McPeak made clear his preference that the law barring
women from combat tasks remain in effect. He said his personal
view was based on "reluctance to see women exposed to greater
risk."
However, the general said he "would be inclined, should the
law go off the books, to recommend to the secretary that we
gradually open those cockpit positions to women."
"We are committed to sustaining our strong tradition of equal
opportunity for qualified men and women and are proud of the
contributions women make to the Air Force," he said.
B-2 decision
by SSgt. David P. Masko
Air Force News Service
WASHINGTON -- The Air Force's two top leaders told Congress
that the role of the B-2 bomber remains extremely critical, even
with the end of the Cold War and superpower talks limiting
strategic arms.
"If we had some kind of guarantee that we would not have to
face a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union, we would still have
the B-2 bomber as our top priority program because of its
conventional capabilities," Secretary of the Air Force Donald B.
Rice told the Senate Armed Services Committee June 19.
During the Gulf war, for example, it took more than 50 F-117,
50 F-16 and nearly 20 F-111 missions to hit 15 targets at an Iraqi
nuclear research facility.
Two B-2 stealth bombers carrying a large payload and
precision munitions could accomplish the same task, Secretary Rice
said.
"I think that (Operation Desert Storm) kind of scenario for
conventional use of the B-2 is a highly likely one that we'll run
into in the next 50 years," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill
A. McPeak said.
"For that reason, I think the B-2 makes a very valuable
contribution to our tool kit."
The general also told lawmakers that with the B-2, the Air
Force could have taken the offensive initiative at the very
beginning of Desert Storm.
"The beauty of the B-2 and its long legs and great payload
capability is that you do have a much faster capability to
intervene in situations like that in both a defense and offense
kind of capability," General McPeak said.
The House has already voted to keep B-2 production at 15
airplanes, and said 10 operational B-2s are sufficient to conduct
military operations.
But Secretary Rice said that 10 planes is an insufficient
number to conduct global bombing missions.
"The latest independent studies show that the kind of
conventional operations, which would call strongly for the use of
the capabilities that the B-2 offers, demand operational forces in
the range of 40, 50 or 60 bombers depending on what range of
scenarios you're handling," Secretary Rice said.
Seventy-five aircraft gives the Air Force the necessary
training aircraft, backup aircraft for airplanes that are in depot
maintenance status, and a small attrition reserve, General McPeak
said.
"So the 75 number is really based on the fact that we plan to
build two wings of 30 aircraft each."
President Bush has publicly endorsed the B-2 stealth program,
citing the performance of stealth technology during the Gulf War,
but some members of Congress think the diminished Soviet threat
has largely eliminated the need for the bomber's capabilities.
The Air Force leaders' Capitol Hill appearance comes against
a backdrop of congressional apprehension about the prospects for a
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty agreement in light of new
strategic systems like the B-2.
Prior to the hearing, several senators had an early morning
meeting with President-elect Boris Yeltsin of the Russian
Republic.
Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., told the Air Force panel that Mr.
Yeltsin's goal is to go way beyond the 50 percent reduction in
strategic weapons under START.
However, some members of Congress have voiced speculation
about a slowdown in Soviet strategic programs, saying they see a
resurgent role of the Soviet military.
Secretary Rice agreed and said the role of the B-2 remains
critical in the U.S. efforts to stabilize the nuclear balance,
because slow-flying bombers are more stabilizing than fast-flying
missiles.
"The object of START is not just to reduce (nuclear weapons)
numbers, it is to arrive at a strategic balance that is more
stable and less likely to tempt either side into using nuclear
weapons."
The emerging strategic environment places an even higher
priority on the ability to reach any place in the world that the
U.S. military needs to go, while being able to react rapidly on
day one, he said.
"The B-2 is the principal instrument that will give us the
capability to do that."
And when compared to other force packages necessary to attack
a target, the B-2 puts less lives at risk and is much more cost-
effective in terms of doing the same job without requiring other
support assets, Secretary Rice said.
The Air Force's goal is to have all 75 B-2s operational
before the year 2000, with the first airplanes to arrive at
Whiteman AFB, Mo., in 1993. By 1996, Whiteman will have the first
operational squadrons.
--
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