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Show The Salt Lake Tribune Air Force Missiles Launch in Hunt for Y2K Bugs @ Continued from A-1 missiles are launched from aircraft in the Utah Test and Training Range, a vast expansethat lies not far from the city. The missiles are directed by personnel at Hill and at the Wen- dover commandpost outside the range. “We're not tracking them, but we're veryin tune to when they're being fired,” says Capt. Shawn Northrop, acting commander of the 729th Air Control Squadron, part of Hill’s active-duty 388th Fighter Wing. If the missiles were being tracked by radar, the equipment used to follow their path might itself becomethetarget. So the radar equipment is turned off be- fore the bombs drop. “All those [pieces of equip- ment] radiate. Theysendstuff out and all of them we shut down to avoid the HARM [missiles], Northrop says matter-of-factly over lunch. “We'd probably kill half our people.” Those missiles are among the types used to destroy radar systems. Since March 24, they have been used by NATOofficials directing strikes on Kosovo and the rest of Yugoslavia. For Wendoverresidents, the military presence seems to have gone unnoticed. “Oh, my God! I had no idea. I'm sure not manypeople know about it,” says Darlene Trammell, city treasurer of Wendover, Utah, upon learning about themissiles. So far, the senior Air Forceof- ficial in chargeof the Y2K project says just one glitch has beendis- covered: secure radio transmis- sions in some olderplanes tend to degrade,” requiring pilots to and Arkansas; F-15s from Nevada and Idaho; B-1s from South Dakota; F-117s from New Mexico; B- 52s from Louisiana and A-10s from North Carolina Theseare the only live tests on weapons being used in Yugoslavia and kept ready for possible action over Iraq. The Wendover project sees up to 20 daily “sorties” or drops with the nearly 14-foot AGM-88 HARM, with a price tag of $200,000 each, and eight-foot AGM-65 Maverick missiles (up to $110,000 each). Col. Mike Hostage, the 388th’s commander, saysthetests are being done “‘in as close to a combat environment as we can replicate. We expect to conclusively demonstrate that the Air Force is totally prepared to operate in the UTAH/WORLD pilots year 2000 and beyond.” Hill’s 729th, nicknamed the “Angry Warriors,” has 220 mem. bers. Of those, 93 are helping in Wendover with the Y2K testing From all of these field opera tions, they say they have gained much-needed experience Wecan't fake anything,” says Northrop. “Weliterally control the skies wherever we go. We'reoneofthe few people who can tell pilots wheretogo.” In one darkenedtrailer is Staff Sgt. Austin Blessard, a “weapons director” sporting headphones while hunched over the radar monitor. With a touch-directed computer screen A7 Friday, May 14, 1999 that has options like “destroy,” “challenge” and “prioritykill,” he can analyzethe entire bombing range and direct enced. It’s kind of like an ATM,” he says. “Thejet only sees what's in frontof him. tell the pilot what's behind him, above him, below him. Weworkas a team He says thatin placeslike Yu- goslavia andIraq the radar-moni- toring support teamslikehis prefer to get “within 100 miles of everyaircraft. Weliketobepret ty close. Not real close, because we're not Marines. The squadron is spread thin these di Another 100 ofits members are in Kuwait helping monitor the United Nations’ “no. fly zones” over Iraq. And three members are in Europe helping the Kosovo operations. A majority of the membersleft in Utah arerelatively inexperi oo That's like MeDonald’s having oneout of every three people who don’t cook. andthey'retaking six months to learn how fries,” says Northrop. speaks to cook “It really to the Air Force and how thinly stretched we are. With a budget of $2.1 million and abouta dozenstaff from Flor ida, Dowty plans to finish by next week thefinal testing on about a third of the 368 combat systems that he says are “critical” for waging war. Moretests are sched uled in June at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada By late August, heplansto give an interimreport to Air Combat Commandat Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. A final report is due in thefall fn HeilpraThe Salt DamonCurtis, right, and John Bauder work on radar equip- ment near Wendover, Utah. 5 & be on push a reset button “It's a secure mode, and you're still getting regular mode, and all youdo is reset andyou're back in secure mode,” says Lt. Col. Scott Dowtyfrom Eglin Air Force Base in Florida But he downplays any problems due to Y2K. “The hysteria has been whipped up pretty high There'sa lot of food storedina lot of people’s basements. We're just not seeing that kind of problem in the Air Force.” Crowding the skies overhead during the past week have been F16s from Utah, Idaho, Florida riday & saturday, May 14 &15 NATO Scoffs at Evidence Of Troop Exodus oO @ Continued from A-1 but that Milosevic refused to see 0 her. As foreign reporters saw the military convoy leave Kosovo, a Serb armyofficer there blamed constant NATO bombing for the ‘slow pace” of withdrawals since Yugoslavia announced a partial pullout. The Pristina Army Corps commander, Gen. Vladimir Lazarevic, told reporters brought 130 miles south from Belgrade that ‘a certain amount of time” would be neededto bringthe forces back to their barracks as ordered. In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Richard Bridgessaid ‘ a withdrawal of 120 troops does not comeclose to meeting NATO’s five conditions, which includea return of 780,000 regular-priced merchandise ethnic Albanian refugees ex pelled from Kosovo since March Soon after the troop departure witnessed by reporters, NATO planes screamedover Nis, bomb: ing main roads andthe loca building, the private Beta news agency reported. A security guard was injured Nis Mayor Zoran Zivkovic, a leader of the opposition Demo cratic Party, urged Milosevic to proclaim what is our plan with Kosovo and to submit a list of costs in lives andtime. More strikes late Thursday again damagedSerbia's electrical power grid, knocking out power in several districts of Belgrade, Nis and Novi — the three largest Yugoslav cities A. single missile de. stroyed a bridge in Vrbas, about ies northwest of Belgrade, in theevening, state Serbian TVre ported. It said that a strong blast www.jcpenney.com also knocked down outer walls on nearby residential homes, injur ing number of people In London, Britishofficials said there was heavy fighting between the Kosovo Liberation Army [ye || 2] (KLA) andSerbforces in Kosovo, and that rebels held small pockets of land throughout theprovince In somecases, they'veretaken ground from the Serbs,” said Adm. Sir lan Garnett, Britain's joint chief of operations. The Yugoslav military had ex plainedits initial troop withdraw al announcement by claiming the KLAwasbeaten. ‘\ |
