Testing the B-2 Stealth Bomber
In response to “Why Test the Weapons? Pentagon Just Grades Itself,” by Scott Shuger, Opinion, Oct. 6:
Shuger’s column alleges that the B-2 has not been adequately tested and that the monitoring and reporting of actual test results by independent Department of Defense organizations have been “biased” by organizations not truly independent. The B-2 is in fact the most thoroughly tested aircraft in history, and Shuger’s allegations regarding the objectivity of the Defense Science Board (DSB) and DoD’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E;) are totally unwarranted.
Contrary to Shuger’s claim, when the Air Force announced a shortfall in one portion of one low observability test conducted on July 16, there was no concern expressed regarding the B-2’s structural soundness. All structural testing to date has been successful, and the results have exceeded expectations.
By claiming the Air Force is hiding behind a cloak of “excessive secrecy,” he suggests the Air Force is suppressing information. In fact, within the last two years, security guidelines governing control of B-2 information have been relaxed. Information regarding low observable characteristics of the B-2 remains classified to preserve the unprecedented advantage the U.S. enjoys in this area of technology, and to protect pilots’ lives.
Shuger’s attempt to discredit the objectivity and credibility of the DSB and DoD OT&E; as independent organizations with claims about financial links between specific individuals and contractors is inappropriate. His insinuations that these individuals have somehow “colored” B-2 test results are unsubstantiated and untrue.
The former director of OT&E;, John Krings, was instrumental in development of the System Maturity Matrix (SMM) idea to provide a “yardstick” for DoD and Congress to measure development/flight test progress. Although he was director during the early stages of B-2 development, he left that position in July, 1989, shortly before B-2 flight tests started--obviously before any flight test results had been generated.
Regarding the Defense Science Board, there is no record of Jim Roche ever serving as a member of the DSB, although he did support two DSB task forces totally unrelated to B-2. Don Hicks, Sol Love and retired Maj. Gen. Jasper Welch also never served on the B-2 Task Force.
MAJ. GEN. STEPHEN B. CROKER, Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Department of the Air Force, Washington, D.C
