Boeing Aware of B-2 Defects, Scientist Alleges : * Defense: The firm knew in 1989 that the bomber could be detected with impulse radar, a fired employee charges.
The Boeing Co. knew more than two years ago that the “undetectable” B-2 Stealth bomber could be detected with impulse radar, according to a scientist who was fired by the company a year ago.
Radar specialist Terrence Barrett said his superiors at Boeing ordered him not to say anything while Boeing and the Air Force lobbied Congress to authorize construction of more B-2s.
Boeing is a major subcontractor on the B-2. The prime contractor on the $64.8-billion program is Los Angeles-based Northrop Corp.
Barrett said Boeing Aerospace officials told him that “we don’t want to upset the customer” by exploring whether the plane could actually be detected.
Spokesman Tom Koehler said Seattle-based Boeing never pressured Barrett to withhold information about the radar. “His theories on impulse radar are just that--theories,” Koehler said. He declined to discuss Barrett’s dismissal.
Impulse radar emits an intense, wide-frequency signal. Its detection capabilities are classified.
Koehler said he knows of no challenge to the B-2’s radar invisibility. “There’s been nothing found that could beat the B-2,” he said.
The B-2 is intended to operate undetected by enemy radar through a variety of techniques, including its shape, materials and electronic systems. Last month, Air Force Secretary Donald Rice said the bomber failed a test of its Stealth capability, setting off a political controversy that is threatening the program’s future.
Barrett said Boeing hired him in early 1989 because of his expertise in impulse-radar technology. He said the company promised to support his research and made him manager for advanced concepts in its internal think tank in Kent, 20 miles south of Seattle.
But Barrett said Boeing did not provide the promised support, attacked his radar research and rewrote his application for Pentagon research money.
Barrett said he planned to file a lawsuit in King County, Wash., Superior Court accusing the company of wrongfully firing him. He said he was let go after he wrote a letter challenging the findings of an advisory panel to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which controls money for military research.
Meanwhile, House investigators told The Times on Thursday that the Air Force stopped production work on the Stealth-related aspects of the B-2 for an undetermined period this year.
But in response to an inquiry by The Times, Northrop said it was not issued a stop-work order.
During a hearing conducted Thursday by the oversight subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Jim Slattery (D-Kan.) asked Eleanor Spector, the director of defense procurement, what she knew about a stop work-order on the B-2 and whether it was related to Rice’s disclosure. Spector responded that she did not know the answers.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Stephen Croker issued a statement late Thursday saying: “We are aware of no shortcomings or surprises in any of the areas mentioned by Rep. Slattery. We will further research the issues and respond to Rep. Slattery’s questions.”
In his questions Thursday, Slattery suggested that the Air Force had implemented a stop-work order on the materials and processes that affect the bomber’s Stealth capability. Those presumably would include aircraft skin materials and coatings that absorb radar energy. Stop-work orders typically are an indication of serious technical problems on a weapon.
