The Permanent Demise of Awacs? Say it Ain’t so

(Washington, D.C.): In a report released today, entitled Who’s Minding the Store?: Iraq War’s Top Performing Defense System an Endangered Species, the Center for Security Policy expressed alarm over the imminent demise of the nation’s ability to produce one of its most important defense assets — the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS).

Frank J. Gaffney, the Center’s director observed, “Given the immense value of the AWACS — evident with virtually every report of the success of the air campaign against Iraq — it is simply inconceivable that the United States could cease to have the capacity to manufacture this system as soon as the end of March.”

Gaffney added, “The implications for U.S. security of losing such a production capacity are grave. Worse yet, they are symptomatic of a larger trend toward the precipitous and ill-advised liquidation of key defense industry production capabilities.

“Indeed, there is a bitter irony here: Even as the war with Iraq underscores the need for a healthy defense industrial base — with substantial capacity for surge production to meet the U.S. armed forces’ crisis requirements — that base is being seriously eroded. This is, as in the case of the AWACS, at best a product of benign neglect on the part of the Bush Administration. At worst, it is the result of purposeful and extremely short-sighted design, driven by ephemeral budgetary considerations.”

Fortunately, Congress has awakened to the imminent disaster about to befall the AWACS program. In an 11 February article, the New York Times reported how leading Members of Congress — led by Rep. Charles D. Schumer (D-NY) — have introduced legislation urging the Bush Administration to undertake an eleventh hour effort to reverse the needless loss of this vital national asset. The Center strongly encourages this initiative.

Copies of Who’s Minding the Store may be obtained by contacting the Center. Additional papers which the Center has done on the AWACS issue include Japanese Defense Burden-Sharing: The Persian Gulf and Beyond, 6 September 1991, No. 90-P86; Japan’s Next Five Year Defense Plan: Whither the 1000-Mile Commitment, 6 September, No. 90-86; Congress Puts a Marker Down: End the Japanese Default on Burden-Sharing, 27 September 1990, No. 90-P95.