Speedier Navigation Upgrade in Planes Ordered

Defense Secretary William J. Perry ordered the military Friday to speed up installation of satellite navigation systems and flight-data recorders in its passenger planes in response to the April 3 crash of an Air Force jet that killed Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown.

The equipment is being installed to bring military transports, helicopters and other aircraft that carry passengers closer to the safety standards followed by commercial planes. It will be installed in stages, depending upon the instruments and types of aircraft involved.

The move follows a spate of criticism of military practices after disclosures that the aircraft carrying Brown and a planeload of business executives and aides--which crashed while trying to land in Dubrovnik, Croatia--did not carry a satellite navigation system or flight-data recorders.

Satellite navigation systems, known as the Global Positioning System, help pilots pinpoint their locations. The flight-data recorders, or “black boxes,” record all mechanical and electronic data.

The T-43A plane that carried Brown and 34 others was the Air Force version of a Boeing 737-200 airliner. It slammed into a mountain after the pilot apparently lost his way in the absence of a modern ground-control system. A board is still investigating.

Many Americans, including some high government officials, were surprised to learn after the crash that the military has not kept its aircraft outfitted with the latest equipment, or even cockpit voice-recorders, largely because of budgetary constraints.

Even the special fleet of planes that ferries Cabinet officers and other VIPs does not carry those systems. All commercial airliners are required to have flight-data and voice-recorders.

Officials said the absence of equipment was hampering the crash investigation. An initial report is due out next month.

Perry’s order came 10 days after he asked the chiefs of each branch of the armed services to draft proposals for speeding up the installation of both systems. Military officials already had plans for installing them on some aircraft, but more gradually.

The plan that Perry has put into effect involves three stages:

* “Highest-priority” installation of hand-held Global Positioning System devices on an estimated 2,857 military airlift, troop transport and other passenger aircraft as an “interim” measure until more sophisticated devices, integrated with other instruments, can be put into place.

The interim program is expected to equip 2,857 Air Force and Navy planes by Sept. 30. The Army is to outfit all 268 of its fixed-wing aircraft by late 1999 and some 2,809 helicopters a year later.

* Installation over the next 30 months of up-to-date flight-data recorders on all Air Force and Navy versions of commercial airliners, such as the plane on which Brown was flying. The Army has not completed its estimates for how much equipment it will require.

* Hastening the installation of permanent flight-data recorders that can be integrated with other aviation electronics systems in all other passenger-carrying military aircraft, including troop transports and helicopters. Voice-recorders will be installed later.

Installation of the hand-held Global Positioning Devices is only the first step toward eventually adding the permanent satellite-navigation systems. The services plan to replace the hand-held version with a laptop system before ordering the permanent equipment.

Paul Kaminski, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology, told reporters at a briefing that accelerating the installation of these devices would cost $335 million over what the services already have budgeted for upgrading such systems in the next three years.

Kaminski said the laptop global positioning devices would use a special encoded signal available to military units, enabling pilots to tell the position of their aircraft within 50 feet. The pilot of the plane carrying Brown apparently was off course.

Although some experts say the equipment that Perry has ordered installed quickly would not have done much to have prevented the crash involving Brown’s plane, Kaminski said, “We think it will do some good.”

He said the Air Force is also studying a proposal for a longer-range--and more costly--program for improving navigation and safety equipment, but the Pentagon has not decided whether it is worth the money: an extra $750 million.

Officials said Air Force One, the military Boeing 747 that carries the president, is fully equipped with state-of-the-art navigational and safety devices.