Pentagon Modifying Pershing Missiles After Fatal Fire

The Pentagon said Wednesday that it is modifying its Pershing 2 nuclear missiles because of a fire that killed three U.S. soldiers in January.

However, it insisted that a plan to deploy all 108 missiles in West Germany by the end of the year will not be affected.

West German and U.S. officials in Bonn said deployment of the missiles, which sources say is about half complete, has been temporarily suspended to carry out the modifications--but they also stressed that the overall deployment will be completed on schedule. One U.S. official who declined to be identified indicated that the changes will require a few weeks.

Deployment Continuing

At the State Department, spokesman Bernard Kalb said he does not know how long the modifications will take, but he insisted that the deployment is “continuing in accordance with” the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s original schedule.

Basing of the missiles has been a subject of intense controversy in West Germany, triggering demonstrations that brought millions of people into the streets in 1983 in a vain attempt to block initial deployment. The controversy flared anew after the fire at a U.S. Army base near the town of Heilbronn killed three soldiers and injured 16 on Jan. 11.

In a report prepared by U.S. military experts and released in Washington and Bonn, investigators concluded that the fire was caused by a discharge of static electricity within the propellant of a rocket motor being hoisted by crane from its delivery container.

The Pentagon, in a statement issued with the report, said modifications to new missiles are being made on the production line and that those already in West Germany will be modified at their sites.

Training Reduced

The Pentagon acknowledged that “training activity of Pershing 2 units has been reduced” during the investigation into the cause of the fire but said “important operational capabilities have been sustained within the safety constraints.”

“Full training activity will be restored when all modifications are completed,” the statement said, without giving a date. It added: “Continuation of the deployment of Pershing 2 missiles . . . will not be affected by modifications to training and equipment.”

After a copy of the report was presented Wednesday to the Defense Committee of the West German Parliament, committee Chairman Alfred Biehle quoted Defense Minister Manfred Woerner as saying “the U.S. had agreed that no more missiles will be brought into West Germany until modifications have been made.”

‘Ultimate Goal’

Asked about this statement, Cmdr. Fred Leeder, a Pentagon spokesman, said that “we are not talking about rates” at which the missiles are shipped to West Germany. But, he said, “we fully expect our ultimate goal to be met.” Another spokesman, Maj. Don Maple, said, “The modifications are already being made on the assembly line, and the deployment schedule won’t be affected.”

The modifications recommended in the report include more extensive grounding of the missile’s motor stage during assembly, changes to the motor-stage shipping container and alterations to the lifting crane used to assemble the missile.

Gaylord Shaw reported from Washington and Tyler Marshall from Bonn.