The Hunters

At the NATO conference in Paris last week (see INTERNATIONAL), the U.S.'s offshore procurement program got its biggest boost yet. The U.S. agreed to spend $282 million as its share of a $559 million NATO program to buy nearly 1,000 combat aircraft, the first big order to be let in Europe with U.S. money. By far the biggest chunk ($140 million) went to Britain for 450 Hawker Hunter supersonic jet interceptors and too Sea Hawk carrier-based jets, to be built by Hawker Siddeley. Another $42 million worth of Hunters will also be built by Dutch and Belgian planemakers on the Continent, under license from Hawker Siddeley. The French came in for an $86,540,000 order for 200 Dassault Mystere Mark IV jet interceptors.

Hawker Siddeley's big order was acknowledgement that the Hunter is one of the best jet interceptors in the air today. It was also vindication of the bet of Hawker Siddeley's Chairman Thomas O. M. Sopwith on a short-range fighter, which, like the World War II Spitfires, sacrifices fuel capacity and range for the speed and climb qualities needed to knock down attacking enemy bombers.

Goal Reached. The agreement also made clear that the U.S. had at last started to use offshore procurement not merely as an auxiliary supply source for NATO, but as a foundation of Western European defense. As one MSA official put it: "The

U.S. had two alternatives. We could make the planes ourselves and give them to our allies, or we could place orders in their factories and buy them for NATO use."

The U.S. chose the second alternative, and the signing at Paris signified the attainment of this long-range objective. Of the $640 million in offshore procurement contracts placed in fiscal 1952, the first full year of the agreement, and the $1.2 billion scheduled for 1953, very little has been spent for prime military equipment (trucks, tanks, guns and planes). The biggest part is going for ammunition, spare parts, small naval vessels and electronic goods. But since the U.S. means to build up a balanced European military production base, the bulk of the $1.5 billion that it will probably spend on offshore procurement in fiscal 1954 will go for prime orders.

Dollars Saved. There are sound economic, as well as military, reasons for this. By buying equipment overseas, the European production base can be expanded far beyond what is possible with continental funds alone. The NATO dollars will also go a long way toward lightening Europe's need for straight economic aid.

It is good business for the U.S. taxpayer for another reason. The Air Force estimates that it saved about $15 million last year by buying parts and supplies in Europe. Savings on the new aircraft are not so easy to estimate, since costs of pilot models from European plants may run much higher than in the U.S. But quantity production may be less expensive, and there are compensating savings in transportation costs. Said one U.S. official in Paris last week: "A dollar put in here now will save the U.S. $10 in costs represented by trying to supply that item in one of those emergencies we all talk about."

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