SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY : Loral May Benefit if Pentagon Decides to Upgrade Weaknesses in U.S. Arsenal

The Persian Gulf War gave Pentagon planners a rare chance to see how weapons systems would work on the battlefield, and one defense executive says the conflict spotlighted several weaknesses in the nation’s arsenal.

Bernard Schwartz, chief executive of Loral Corp., says the war showed that the Navy could use better undersea mine detection, improved anti-submarine protection as well as combat aircraft that uses Stealth technology. Other weaknesses, he said, were in the areas of satellite reconnaissance, battlefield damage assessment, a rapid airlift capability and a missile-defense system that is more advanced than the Patriot missile.

“Saddam made the fight easier for us, but we cannot rely on him in the future,” Schwartz said in a speech to the Orange County chapter of the World Affairs Council in Irvine last week. “It’s a large shopping list indeed, but in war the trade-off is technology for body bags.”

Schwartz said he expects the industry to continue to suffer from budget cuts. But he said Loral, a New York-based defense electronics firm with 2,700 employees in Newport Beach, would stand to benefit if the Pentagon acts to shore up some weaknesses highlighted during the Gulf War.

Loral makes a wide range of electronic gear for aircraft, reconnaissance equipment, simulation and training equipment, anti-submarine warfare systems and satellites.

He also said the United States should be wary of selling arms overseas indiscriminately, but he added that the U.S. government should not be the only nation to impose a unilateral arms embargo in the Middle East. Any embargo should involve the French and Germans as well, he said.

Among the items that could benefit Loral’s Aeronutronic subsidiary in Newport Beach is a renewed effort to sell a package of arms, including combat aircraft, to Saudi Arabia, Schwartz said.

Aeronutronic makes guidance systems for Sidewinder missiles that would be sold with Air Force F-15 Eagle combat aircraft.