No More Time for Sergeant York

By Amy Wilentz

Washington wits say that Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger has never met a weapons system he did not like. Last week even Weinberger's patience ran out on one high-priced military project. In a tense press conference, the Secretary announced he was scrapping the Army's fault-ridden Sergeant York antiaircraft gun, making it one of the most important weapons systems to be canceled in production since the Cheyenne attack helicopter was deep-sixed in 1969. "It is not worth the costs," Weinberger said of the program, which would have totaled $4.8 billion before completion.

The doomed Sergeant York, named after the famed World War I sharpshooter, had become a symbol of the military's inherent problem with buying a system still in the testing stage. The gun, formally known as DIVAD (division air defense), was designed to protect troops from air attack, but its radar system was unable to locate even hovering helicopters. Although the weapon was mostly a patchwork of proven hardware, the computer that was supposed to coordinate the system never worked properly, and its auxiliary power unit provided a heat target for attacking infrared missiles. Charges of $84 million by the contractor, Ford Aerospace & Communications Corp., have been disputed by the Pentagon, which has already paid $1.8 billion for 65 of the guns.

As Washington became increasingly fed up with the DIVAD's problems, Weinberger last year ordered a $54 million series of battlefield-condition tests. Congress then authorized money to keep the program alive but with a caveat: the funds would be released only if Weinberger certified that the gun "meets or exceeds the performance specifications of its contract." The tests were monitored by the Pentagon's new Operational Test and Evaluation Office, mandated by Congress in 1983 to serve as an independent watchdog. The results were abysmal. Said OT&E Director Jack Krings last week: "As tested, the Sergeant York was not operationally effective in adequately protecting friendly forces during simulated combat."

The DIVAD cancellation will probably mean layoffs for many of the 1,900 workers at the Ford Aerospace plant in Newport Beach, Calif. Financial analysts expect the parent Ford Motor Co. to weather the loss of the contract. Meanwhile, the Army must search for a suitable replacement to take on the Sergeant York's intended air-defense duties. Said Weinberger: "A decision to cancel what is basically an ineffective system doesn't eliminate the need."

Another reputation that may have been on the line in the Sergeant York decision was Weinberger's. "Killing the DIVAD was vital to saving any fig leaf of Weinberger's viability on the Hill," said one senior congressional aide. Legislators have been pressuring the Secretary to cut marginal Pentagon programs to help alleviate the federal deficit crisis. Said Congressman Denny Smith of Oregon, a Viet Nam War veteran and a longtime opponent of the Sergeant York: "My congratulations to Secretary Weinberger for a courageous decision. Too bad he waited so long."

With reporting by Bruce van Voorst/Washington