PRODUCTION OF 19 Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack RadarSystem (JSTARS) aircraft has been approved by the US Department of Defense (DoD), despite a last-minute bid by the Congressional General Accounting Office (GAO) to block full-rate production.
Defence undersecretary Paul Kaminski approved production on 26 September, despite a US Air Force operational test and evaluation report emphasising that "...significant improvements are required in JSTARS to meet all its performance requirements".
Citing the report, the GAO charged that JSTARS "...has not demonstrated the maturity justifying full-rate production". Kaminski says that the deficiencies identified in operational testing do not warrant interrupting production, but he calls for further testing.
A software update due in 1997 will address most of the problems, while a maintenance demonstration planned by the US Air Force will tackle evaluators' concerns about the level of contractor support required to keep two aircraft flying during operational tests.
Source: Flight International
