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Show Page B12 THE DAILY HERALD, Prevo, luh, Friday, October 25, 19 Leaders J agree to I British designers present stealth wars By WILLIAM J. KOLE Associated Press Writer PARIS Call them guerrillas in the mist. Naval vessels have always had the distinct disadvantage of being sitting ducks. Now that the United States has proven the technical and strategic success of its stealth bomber, is the world ready for a stealth warship? Two British shipbuilders think so. At an international naval arms trade show in Paris this week, they're unveiling sleek new concept ships designed to sneak up on the enemy by eluding radar one by cloaking itself in a fine spray. "It's completely new. It's cut ting edge," said Keith Faulkner.t managing editor of Jane s Information Group, which tracks the defense industry and publishes the respected Jane's reference books on military aircraft, warships, tanks and other armaments. "If it works the way they think, it will be at the forefront of g technology," he said Wednesday. "I'd definitely take these new designs seriously. It's not a stunt." Making all ships more stealthy even behemoth aircraft carriisn't new. ers The United States has led the way since 1984 with its Lockheed-built Sea Shadow, a prototype patrol craft with its sides slanted upward at various angles to deflect radar. There's also the U.S. Arsenal, a concept ship that may one day serve as an d unmanned, missile platform in the Persian Gulf. France built stealth features into its new Lafayette class of frigates, whose hulls have diamond-like facets to thwart enemy radar and are coated with special paint. Sweden has a similarly angular experimental patrol craft built of plastic. But a true stealth warship existed only in the imaginations of engineers and scientists until this week, when Britain's Vosper Thornycroft and BAeSE-Mstole the show at Euronaval, a defense exhibition running through today. The main attraction is a yard-lon- g model of Vosper's 377-fo- divide fleet By SERGEI SHARGORCDSKY Associated Press Writer . i n V : bat-wing- Russian PresiMOSCOW dent Boris Yeltsin and his Ukrain-- ; ian counterpart pledged Thursday to sign an agreement dividing the Black Sea fleet, a move that would improve strained ties between the. two neighbors. ; Yeltsin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma met for 30 minutes at a health resort outside Moscow where Yeltsin is preparing for heart surgery. The meeting was "very constructive, cordial and informal," and the two "agreed on all issues" regarding the fleet, said Yeltsin's spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhemb-sk- y. ' 'f" y'' i fa He said Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin will travel to Ukraine next month to sign agreements dividing the fleet and establishing its bases and financingThe accord would pave the way for a comprehensive political treaty between the two former Soviet republics. Yastrzhembsky said Yeltsin plans to visit Kiev after his surgery, set for mid- November, and that the larger-treatwould be ready for signing then. The dispute over the Black Sea fleet has soured Russian-Ukrainia- n relations since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin has repeatedly put off a visit to Ukraine, citing the problem. The fleet of more than 300 ships was founded by Catherine the Great and served as the Soviet counterbalance to the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean during the Cold War. Russia and Ukraine have argued about how to divide it, finally reaching tentative agreements that would let Russia keep most of the fleet and lease naval facilities in Sevastopol, the fleet's main base on the Crimean Peninsula. The deal appeared near collapse, however, after the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, passed a bill Wednesday claiming the entire fleet as Russian property. ship-buildin- remote-controlle- radar-absorbe- nt fiber-reinforc- A ot V " . t- ' fr i- visitor at the naval armament and construction industry show in Le Bourget, north of Paris, Monday, examines a r, n ti heat-seeki- h: if AP Photo ing hot spots that incoming missiles would try to sniff out. Those are the details the manufacturer will talk about. The rest is a closely guarded British military secret. "We've tried to introduce new technologies that don't exist in its class. We've tried to hide the things that normally would reveal it to an enemy," said Brian Spilman, head of Vosper's Future Projects Group. No Sea Wraiths have been built, but Vosper sales director John Knight said he is talking to interested customers. He wouldn't say how much the new ship e, II model of the Sea Wraith stealth corvette prototype presented by the British shipbuilding and engineering group Vosper An unidentified Sea Wraith stealth corvette, an patroller whose multifaceted hull bears a striking resemblance to the stealth bomber. It creates radar disturbances to throw oncoming missiles and its hull is designed to confuse enemy forces trying to track the vessel by radar and figure out what it is. On enemy screens, it's designed to have the "radar signature" of a small fishing boat. Its most intriguing feature is nozzles actually rather low-tecthat can generate a mist from the sea, hiding the ship from infrared search beams and mask si I;) . I! I ot said. high-spee- d for Designed engagement in rough seas, that ship is propelled by jets of water to keep it quiet. Among its hightech goodies: decoy launchers designed to seduce incoming enemy missiles away from the ship. Tragedy has propelled the world's navies to make future to warships less vulnerable marauding missiles and subs. In the 1982 Falklands War, the British destroyer HMS Sheffield was easy prey for the Argentine-fire- d Exocet missile that sank it, killing 20 crew members. So was the USS Stark, which lost 37 sailors in the Persian Gulf in 1987 when it was hit by two French-mad- e Exocets fired by an Iraqi jet. EHiiffiSE iHitr y (i lit! W IKMftylWIHtl , 'I ttmit (Mi W$fJ $3S i D n H II It v( DOWN PAYMENT $289 a Morini 36 MONTHS A MONTH $999 ; , Thornycroft. The patroller has a multifaceted hull which bears a striking resemblance to the stealth bomber. would cost, saying the price tag would vary widely according to the weapons systems ordered with it. The bill, however, would easily run into multiple millions of dollars. Project Cougar, a model of a similar stealth ship design, was unveiled Monday by BAeSEMA, a subsidiary of British Aerospace. The 311-fosteel vessei would target customers in the Pacific Rim region, where Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and others are building their fleets, the company . DOWN i1 fiiHi 3- ytre - dohc 24 vaive Power windows. mirrors and door locks, dual airba8s (SRS) and DOwer assisted 4 wheel disk brakes. V MAIITIIP 1 WW gxe features a i9o"hp The Maxima en8ine- - ii w ct ;'fiiH!i m a iMKi The Quest XE features 3.0 litre V6 engine, dual lock and more. 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