Problem Bird

Though it was conceived as the world's most sophisticated combat aircraft, the F-lll has flunked many of its courses--mostly in political science. Last week Congress gave the swing-wing fighter-bomber its worst report card yet. A House-Senate Conference Committee recommended that the Navy model, the F-111B, not go into production until the plane shows beyond doubt that it can operate efficiently from aircraft carriers.

The committee's action on the F-lll --originally code-named the TFX--refleeted five years of congressional controversy. Almost from its inception the supersonic bi-service jet has been opposed by Arkansas' Democratic Senator John L. McClellan, who calls it a "multibillion-dollar blunder." Largely as a result of McClellan's jeremiads, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara's request for $287 million to buy 20 F-lllBs for Navy testing was rudely rejected by the committee, which approved only $147,900,000 for eight of the swing-wing ships. The higher cost per plane includes design changes and ground-support gear as well as custom fabrication of the plane itself.

Glitches & Advances. Politics aside, during more than two years of flight testing, the F-lll has fallen more than a year behind schedule. Only last month, a new crop of glitches and some lingering old ones caused combat tests in Viet Nam to be put off for another two months, until December. Nonetheless, far less radical departures in aircraft design have been hobbled by similar delays in the past. In the case of the F-lll, the original blueprints have had to be modified repeatedly to accommodate new electronic gadgetry for which the plane was not designed.

In the process, the F-lll has indeed become the world's most advanced and versatile jet. It has also become something less--and more--than either the Air Force or Navy wanted. As originally envisioned, the Air Force version would be capable of ducking under enemy radar and making a 400-mile supersonic dash just above the ground before hitting its target; the Navy model would be light enough to fly off carriers and provide air defense for the fleet. Because both services wanted a jet with sliding wings that would allow it to take off in short spaces, land slowly, sprint at Mach 2.5 or loiter for hours, McNamara's experts calculated that $1 billion could be saved if the services used the same basic craft.

To meet that goal, constant redesigning was necessary, and prices soared. McNamara had originally estimated that one F-111A would cost $2.9 million; its current price tab is approximately $7,000,000, and the Navy version may cost as much as $10 million because of expensive weight-cutting programs and more complex missile systems. Despite the extra costs, the Air Force's F-111A currently is capable of making only a 100-mile low-level supersonic dash, and the Navy's model is still 7,000 Ibs. too heavy for optimum carrier use. The Air Force feels that it can live with the F-lllA's shorter dash range and is happy enough with it to have ordered production of 395 planes. But the Navy is not sure that it will be able to use its ver sion with maximum effectiveness as a carrier aircraft.

Neat Feat. One area in which the F-lll has been an unqualified success is its revolutionary swing-wing design. The wings work perfectly. But while the F-lll's builder, General Dynamics, fell behind schedule trying to satisfy airmen, Navymen and McNamara men, the Soviet Union scored a neat feat of copycatting. At last July's Moscow air show, it displayed two new swing-wing combat planes, including one that had unquestionably profited from the tribulations of the F-lll. The Russians' Mikoyan-designed fighter has its air ducts placed far forward on the fuselage, apparently thus avoiding engine-stall caused by rearward ducts on the F-lll. Nevertheless, the F-lll is still the hottest plane, packing the most advanced radar and missile systems in the skies today, giving the nation a swinging aerial edge.

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