twr32v4.htm


Home \| Back to TWR Index \| Email \| The Editor \| History \| Gulf War Index


		three Canadians held in Kuwait? OK, good for Joe, a naive `babe' in those barbaric woods, but the answer to the question is: about the same might as anyone bar Israel, roughly the strength of a soggy, `Only in Canada you say?', wet, Red Rose tea bag. Saddam Hussein has threatened to destroy half of Israel with binary nerve gas (school children in Israel now routinely don gas masks as part of their air-raid drills). He has thumbed his nose at the West with the execution early this summer of Farzad Bazoft, a British-based Iranian journalist. He supplied weapons to rebel General Michel Aoun who refuses to recognize the Syrian-backed Lebanese government; and used Soviet-made Scud B rockets and chemical weapons against his country's own Kurdish minority, oppressing them to ensure his continued rule. He padlocks his political opponents into torture cells or has them murdered, and does everything imaginable to complete an end run on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to which Iraq is a signatory. When Hussein sent 100,000 troops into tiny Kuwait last Thursday, murdering 800 or more citizens of Iraq's closest friend and ally, no one in our profession was very surprised. Iraqi troops had been gathering along the Kuwait/Iraq border for days just as they were grouping along the Saudi Arabia/Kuwait border at the commencement of this week. Saudi Arabia could be invaded next, but not soon unless by quirk of the man's twisted mind, or as the consequence of myopic measures by intervening powers, forcing Hussein's hand. As the European Community, United Nations Security Council, Japan, the United States, and other nations flex their muscles, one outdoing the other in righteous indignation, imposing tough economic sanctions against Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait, they are not only diddling themselves out of needed oil imports, alarming their citizenry with soaring gasoline and oil prices potentially triggering a world recession, and further destabilizing global security, but they are also backing Hussein into a corner with which he is familiarized. The madman has already blooded his troops in the conquest of convenient assets. With this oddball, sanctions may backfire. He is capable of the ultimate in wickedness. And westerners might
	Volume 4, Number 32 August 8, 1990

	Comment: A HINT OF PENDING HORROR? In March, while researching Middle East affairs for our report and for a contribution to a book The Wednesday Report's Dale Grant is writing, an Israeli friend asked me to send him copies of our past articles detailing Saddam Hussein's quest for weapons of mass destruction. He was preparing a case to make to Joe Clark, arguing that Canada's foreign policy where Iraq is concerned should be formulated only after weighing what he believes is a serious threat to his country; only after the atrocities of the Hussein regime have been acknowledged. David went as far as asking me to spell out in writing our shared conception of Saddam Hussein's bent toward eradication of Israel. We speculated that Kuwait would be Hussein's first step in a new wave of tyranny. Israel's government has every right to say "I told you so". But when the Canadian Minister of State for External Affairs candidly talked tough via television to Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, that well-meaning, Right Honourable chap sent shivers up my spine. What force has Joe to back up his demand upon the most dangerous lunatic in the world's most perilous region for the "rights" of



	be shocked out of their wits to learn just how much Arab support exists throughout the Middle East for anti-West trailblazers like Hussein and Lybian leader Colonel Muammar Gadhafi. Hussein's action against Kuwait, as treacherous as any of Adolph Hitler's in the late 1930s, begs the question, "If that's how he treats his ally, what of his enemies?". Menachem Begin, the Israeli Prime Minister in the early 1980s had an inkling of that. It was in June 1981 that Begin ordered the Israeli air force to undertake its longest bombing raid ever, destroying the Osirak reactor which France had provided to the Iraqis. Intelligence reports had said that Iraq was within a few years of building a nuclear weapon, and Begin's nightmares of the Nazi Holocaust of World War II prompted him to declare to his top aides that the enemies of the Jewish people must never be allowed to obtain weapons of mass destruction. The Israelis had issued a warning in April 1979 when they sent saboteurs disguised as tourists to the French seaside town of La Seyne-sur-Mer. The agents attached explosives to two nuclear-reactor cores that were about to be shipped to Baghdad. The cores were destroyed and the operatives escaped, but the Iraqis kept working on their nuclear-weapons project and until 1981 the French helped them. But don't be too quick to criticize France. The Iranian hostage incident generated a deep hatred for the Iranians within the U.S. resulting in considerable American support for Iraq during the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war. Britain, West Germany, Argentina, the Soviet Union, Egypt, even Canada, and many other nations have been quick to sell aircraft, vehicles, technology and weapons to Iraq, unwittingly helping it acquire its present military might. Earlier this year, a joint operation by British and American security and customs services foiled an attempt by Iraq to secure electronic components for use in the `trigger' mechanisms of nuclear bombs, an indication that Iraq's nuclear capability is well on its way. The components were a batch of forty kryton capacitor devices which a Surrey (U.K.) based company named Euromac, often used by Arab countries as an arms buying agency, ordered from California-based CSI Technologies. The uncovered attempt was the latest discovered in a long series of related Iraqi efforts to acquire technology needed to produce nuclear warheads for its al Abbas missile. The Iraqi missile arsenal has blossomed from the Scud B, with its 175-mile range, to the 400-mile al Hussein tested in 1987 and then the 550-mile al Abbas. The intelligence and security communities were alarmed last December when Iraq launched a new, larger missile, the Tammuz-1, with the claim that it could carry a satellite into space. Tammuz-1 is capable of reaching Tel Aviv, a mere 600 miles from Baghdad and only half that distance from Iraq's western desert. Al Abbas was developed with Argentinean assistance derived from the Condor project. Work on Condor was also undertaken by the Egyptian state-owned Factory 17 and is reported as having received technical support from a group of European companies which included MBB, Wegmann, SNIA-BPD and SAGEM. The Iraqi project is being undertaken at the Sa'ad 16 complex which was at least partially outfitted by the West German contractor Gildemeister. The Iraqi-Egyptian-Argentinean missile project known both as Condor and as Badr-2000, first noted by Israel in 1985, seems far from dead despite claims by Egypt that it withdrew from the scheme. Last year, examination of the affairs of the U.S. branch of the Italian Banca Nazionale Del Lavorno revealed that it had provided finance for a number of companies with links with Iraq, including the U.K. machine tool manufacturer Matrix-Churchill, and a company known as Technology and Development Group (TDG). It subsequently emerged that TDG had linked with a company known as SRC Composites to acquire a composites manufacturing facility in Belfast that had formerly been operated by Learfan. Eventually the U.K. Foreign Office intervened when it became concerned that the plant might be able to produce carbon-carbon and other composite materials which could be embodied in Condor 2/a1 Abbas. Development grants were withheld and the plant passed into new ownership (Short Bros.). SRC Composites was a subsidiary of SRC, the Brussels-based company whose founder Dr. Gerald Bull was found shot dead in his apartment six days before the interception of the kryton consignment. Canadian-born Gerald Bull, who in his earlier years was praised by such notables as Senator Barry Goldwater for having spawned the brainchild of putting nuclear weapons into orbit, apparently sold technology to Iraq for a form of "Super-Gun". The Iraqi endeavour appeared to be similar to Bull's orbital gun, or High Altitude Research Projectile (HARP) work conducted in North America during the mid-1960s. Perhaps comprising Supersonic Combustion RAM-jet (SCRAM) technology which Bull claimed could achieve final projectile velocity of Mach 25, the "Super-Gun" may yet exist in component form inside Iraq. Certainly, whether it exists or not, Bull's work in Iraq confirms that Hussein seeks to extend his military threat across the Middle East region.



	Page
	The Wednesday Report - Copyright 1990
		August 8, 1990





		Having survived the long war with Iran which ended in 1988, claiming Iraq to be the victor with its relatively massive, million-strong, combat-trained army and some 6,000 tanks, Hussein has his wartime bills to pay. History books are filled with such kooks who's first conquests on the road to territorial domination included prime economic targets of opportunity. He apparently decided that Iraq's historic moment had come. Paying out murder and destruction in his invasion of Kuwait, Hussein has gained control of a wartime creditor, an extremely beautiful and wealthy nation by Middle East standards, and for now he has only to sit back and grow stronger. Kuwait's opulent wealth will buy him more modern weapons, more power, and more confidence. Having likened himself to the Arab heroes who defeated the Persians in the 7th century and later the Crusaders, at age 52, Hussein is intent on leading the Middle East's foremost power. Although Hussein dismisses Israel as a "Zionist invasion" and harbours ambitions of erasing it, the present capacity of the Israelis to launch up to 100 nuclear warheads against Iraq, thus assuring its destruction, will likely impair Hussein's confidence to assault the Jewish state. Hussein will acquiesce at least until he feels he has stockpiled sufficient stores of mass destruction for an all-out, totally destructive first-strike. And as the world waits for what comes next, the Middle East region grows uglier, no longer by years, but monthly. Since the Israeli raid in June 1981, Hussein has carefully scattered and concealed Iraq's arms stockpiles and manufacturing efforts making pre-emptive attacks against him a virtual impossibility. U.S. military intervention, conceivably invoking the worst imaginable chemical warfare, and God knows what else, could result in horrors much uglier than anything witnessed by Americans in Viet Nam. Clearly, U.S. President Bush, along with others, realize the tormenting reality of a nearly hopeless situation. Someday well into the future there will be a showdown of some considerable proportion. Novelist Major-General (retired) Richard Rohmer hypothesized in one of his books that the next significant use of nuclear weapons would occur in the Middle East, and not by the so-called "Super Powers", but by mercenaries and Arabs squabbling over territory. American scientist Karl Sagan, who's input into the British film "Threads", a mid-80s harbinger of the horror of `nuclear winter', used the scenario of a nuclear exchange in the Middle East as the trigger for WW III; and international strategic studies groups have warned for years that the Middle East conflict is the likely spark for a chain reaction of wars that could become apocalyptic. Peace is certainly not breaking out all over the Middle East. Micheal John O'Brien SAMPSON RETIRES, SAWYER NAMED PRESIDENT BOEING CANADA James Sawyer of Arnprior, Ontario has been named president of Boeing Canada Technology Ltd., effective last Wednesday. Sawyer succeeds Gordon B. Sampson who is retiring. Sawyer began his career in 1964 as a machinist trainee in the company's Arnprior Division and rose to become the division's vice president and general manager. In addition to his role as president of Boeing Canada Technology Ltd., Sawyer will serve as general manager of Arnprior and Winnipeg divisions. Sampson, a former Chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (1983-84), served with Boeing Canada since 1984 as Canadian president and as general manager of the Winnipeg Division. His distinguished aerospace industry vita comprises an impressive occupancy of top management slots specifically in the field of aircraft design and construction. Sampson served for 10 years as vice president and general manager of Fleet Industries of Fort Erie, Ontario (now Fleet Aerospace Corporation) and was also president and general manager of Standard Aero Ltd. of Winnipeg, Manitoba during the early 1980s. After the fall of the Arrow in 1959, Sampson assisted in the design, development and certification of Avian Aircraft's renowned gyroplane. Before that time he was employed in the design office of A.V. Roe working on the CF-100 Canuck and CF-105 Arrow projects. His work at A.V. Roe included some of the earliest research into wire-guided missile systems and pioneer research into supersonic transport technology. Almost a decade ago, during an interview with The Wednesday Report's current editor, Sampson boasted that, "Canadians can produce quality aerospace products second to none." True. He is one of the industry's "greats" who helped bring about that truth. Congratulations on your many first-class achievements and best wishes, Gord, from your friends at The Wednesday Report.


	The Wednesday Report - Copyright 1990 August 8, 1990
	Page





	U.K. AXES SHIPS IN BUDGET CUTS The Thatcher government's recent announcement of its plans to reshape the U.K.'s armed forces has as expected been accompanied by a further series of near-term cuts designed to ease pressure on current year spending. The latest cuts, which are the second phase of a programme which began in June with the decision not to proceed with the purchase of an attrition batch of 33 Tornado aircraft, fall mainly on the Royal Navy. Nine ships are to go. The list is headed by the nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror, two Oberon-class submarines, HMS Onslaught and HMS Odin, and the 24-year-old frigate HMS Phoebe which was converted to operate towed array sonar in the late 1970s. Also to go are two Ton-class minehunters which were decommissioned in the mid-1980s and have subsequently been `Preserved by Operation' as part of the Navy's Standby Squadron, and the former patrol vessels HMS Petrel and HMS Sandpiper, both of which have been used for officer training. The one modern ship to be axed is the seabed operations tender HMS Challenger, which only entered service six years ago, but which was plagued by costly problems with its diving system. Challenger is to be offered for sale to the private sector, and the Royal Navy will meet its future requirements for diving support by chartering on an `as required' basis. MEL TO GO TO THORN? The on-off sale of Philips subsidiary MEL is now likely to go ahead in the near future. Industry watchers who had previously forecast Thomson-CSF to have bid for the company's defence interests now expect them to be sold to Thorn EMI and to be merged into its recently reorganized defence subsidiary Thorn EMI Electronics. Ironically Thomson had also been mentioned as the most likely purchaser of the Thorn unit before it was withdrawn from the market earlier this year. (See The Wednesday Report, April 4, page 3, "Thorn Off Market".) NEW U.K.-U.S. JOINT MARITIME CENTRE A new U.K.-U.S. Joint Maritime Communications Centre is to be established at the Royal Air Force's maritime reconnaissance operating base at St. Mawgan. Plans for the new installation were revealed by the U.K. government after disclosures that the U.S. forces were planning to extend their Regency Net communications system to St. Mawgan, in the U.K.'s Cornish peninsula. Regency Net has hitherto linked only major U.S. airfields. Work on the new centre will commence in mid-1991, and when completed in 1995 it will employ around 400 operational staff — each country providing around 200. The installation will be housed in a buried, hardened communications building approximately 70 meters square and will be provided with two additional satellite ground terminals. RESIDENT ISRAELI INDUSTRIES REPRESENTATIVE TO RETURN HOME Dr. Ady Tzidon has completed his three-and-a-half-year assignment in Canada as president of ATG Aerospace Inc. of Toronto. After a few weeks of vacation, he will return to Israel to take up a post with Israeli Aircraft Industries, ATG's parent company in Israel. Replacing Dr. Tzidon as the new president of ATG Aerospace is Mr. Gabriel Alony formerly of Bedek Aviation, another division of IAI. MCDONNELL DOUGLAS SHAREHOLDERS TO GET DIVIDEND Not all the news to McDonnell Douglas shareholders is bad news. Shareholders have been informed of an aggressive corporate renewal plan (see The Wednesday Report, July 18, page 5, "McDonnell Douglas Corp. To Cut Back 11 Percent") and on July 26, the board of directors of McDonnell Douglas Corp. declared a quarterly dividend of 70.5 cents (U.S.) per share on the outstanding stock to be paid October 1 to shareholders of record as of August 31.



	Page
	The Wednesday Report - Copyright 1990
		August 8, 1990





		UPDATE: MARITIME COASTAL DEFENCE VESSEL PROGRAMME Of the projects cited as a least likely target for future cuts, the Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel (MCDV) should sit high on the list unless cabinet goes completely dotty. Proposals for the MCDV acquisition programme were submitted to the Department of Supply and Services on July 6. The two companies competing for the $450 million MCDV contract, Canadian Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. (CSE) of St. Catharines and Fenco Engineers Inc. of Ottawa (a subsidiary of Lavalin) were forced to work around cost restraints throughout the definition phase while the list of requirements remained unchanged. (See The Wednesday Report, March 7, page 8, "Cost Constraints Limit MCDV".) Garrett's "Integrel" team for TCCCS was not the only enterprise beset by the Leigh bankruptcy. Canadian Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. encountered a setback when Leigh Instruments Limited, a first tier MCDV subcontractor, declared bankruptcy on April 12. Leigh had been a part of the project on the CSE team since October 1988 and was responsible for the complete combat system of the ships including mine countermeasures. According to Mike Fisher, MCDV Programme Manager for CSE, Leigh's ill-fated demise did not shake the CSE structure. "Several key dispersed Leigh employees working on the MCDV project were hired by CSE on a contractual basis to continue their work on the project." Some of the standard seagoing systems were taken over by CSE and despite the setback, no time extension was requested of the project office. CSE subcontractors include CAE Electronics; Lansdowne Integrated Systems; Pictou Industries; Port Weller Drydocks; Allied Shipbuilders; the Vancouver Shipyard; and the Marystown Shipyard. CSE also entered into an exclusive agreement with Offshore Systems Ltd. of Vancouver, B.C. to provide design and integration of the route survey system for the programme. Fenco's first tier subcontractors include German Marine Inc.; Thomson-CSF Systems Canada; MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.; Lavalin Information Inc.; National Boring & Sounding Inc.; German & Milne Inc.; Halifax-Dartmouth Industries Ltd.; and Rivtow Straits Ltd. Both proposals are currently being evaluated with a contract award expected in March 1991. NORTHERN HQ MOVING FROM TRAILERS TO PERMANENT QUARTERS After more than twenty years in `temporary' trailers, NRHQ will get permanent facilities. Cavan Construction of Edmonton, Alberta has been awarded a $6.7 million contract to build a new Northern Region Headquarters (NRHQ) for the Canadian Armed Forces in Yellowknife N.W.T. Composed of the Northwest Territories, the Yukon Territory, and Canadian northern waters extending to the geographic North Pole, the Northern Region has been operating since 1970. Since that time NRHQ has been housed in temporary trailers from which it supported a wide range of Canadian Forces activities in the north and discharged regional military activities of its own. Construction will begin this fall and is expected to be completed in October 1991. The official sod-turning for the new facility took place on July 31, and was conducted by His Excellency the Governor General of Canada, The Right Honourable Ray Hnatyshyn. TWO MORE TYPES CERTIFIED WITH PRATT CANADA ENGINES The Y-12 has become the first Chinese commercial aircraft to obtain an international airworthiness certificate. Two Pratt & Whitney PT6A-27 engines power the Chinese Y-12 aircraft built by CATIC. The British Civil Aviation Administration issued a Type Certificate for the Y-12 in June. There are approximately thirty Y-12s currently in operation in China and abroad. They have accumulated a total of 20,000 flying hours. Beech Aircraft Corp.'s "Beechjet" 400A powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada's JT15D-5 engine has received type certification from the Federal Aviation Administration. Beech expects to deliver the first Beechjet 400A later this year. In February, the U.S. Air Force selected a slightly modified version of the aircraft, to be known as the Jayhawk, for its Tanker-Transport training programme.


	The Wednesday Report - Copyright 1990 August 8, 1990
	Page





	HAWKESBURY'S TUL SAFETY EQUIPMENT WINS NAVY CONTRACT "The timing couldn't be better," said Jack Derby, President, Tul Safety Equipment Limited. Derby's company will soon conclude the manufacture of 20-man inflatable rafts fulfilling a large order for the Department of National Defence. But when January rolls around and the last 20-man raft has been delivered, he knows what will keep his ninety-odd employees busy. Tul won a tough competition late in July to supply Maritime Command with their "Maritime Pouch Life Preservers". The contract value is $1.7 million and the timing is perfect for the Hawkesbury, Ontario firm. The winning life preserver is a compact device worn around the user's waist. In an emergency, snaps are released, the device is pulled from the pouch, slipped over the head and almost in the same motion a toggle is tugged to inflate the unit from its own CO2 charge. Quality and reliability are the bywords in such a competition and Tul has developed a reputation for both with a line of safety products ranging from its inflatable life jackets to its 46-man platform used by many cruise liners. The firm has supplied safety equipment to Transport Canada, Canadian air carriers and most Canadian fishing fleets. Tul was selected to supply the one-man raft used as emergency gear by CF-18 crews and also makes special gear capable of protecting users against the rigours of the high arctic environment. The firm manufactures to AQAP 1 NATO standards and has been approved by DND for overhaul and repair of safety equipment. This latest $1.7 million order from DND, according to Tul marketing vice president Peter Ricciardi, "is the largest contract for this type of safety equipment awarded in recent years". GENERAL ELECTRIC ENGINES POWER AIRBUS FOR AIR AFRIQUE Air Afrique, a consortium of ten African countries has selected GE Aircraft Engines' CF6-80C2 engine to power four firm and four optioned Airbus Industrie A310-300 aircraft in an engine order valued at $150 million (U.S.). Air Afrique is currently the largest operator of GE CF6 engines in Africa, and with this order introduces the first A310-300 aircraft into the regional market. The Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire-based airline currently operates three A300s and three DC-10-30s, all powered by GE CF6-50 engines. The CF6-80C2, rated at 53,500 pounds takeoff thrust for this application is the highest thrust engine currently available for new-generation wide body aircraft. In addition to the A310, the -80C2 powers the Airbus Industrie A300-600 and the Boeing 767 and 747. It will also be the first engine certified on the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 scheduled to enter service later this year. Since entering service in October 1985, the -80C2 has logged more than 2.5 million flight hours. CALENDAR August 14-15 — The Maple Leaf Chapter of the Association of Old Crows (AOC) in cooperation with the Department of National Defence is co-hosting a "Back to Fundamentals" symposium in Ottawa. Topics include electronic reconnaissance and intelligence; ECM from chaff to decoys; communications; Electronic Warfare (EW) training; electro-optics; space EW; and signal processing. For additional information contact the symposium chairman, David Scribailo, AOC NE Symposium 1990, P.O. Box 41084, Ottawa, K1G 5K9. August 21 — The Canadian Defence Preparedness Association will hold a field visit for members and friends to Air Transport Group in Trenton, Ontario. Participants will hear and witness the CF capability for mobility preparedness and visit the Air Maintenance Development Unit. For more information contact Mr. Bond at (613) 235-5337. September 16-19 — The AIAC's "Twenty-Ninth Annual General Meeting" is to be held in the resort area of Whistler Village, British Columbia. The four day event combines an extensive AIAC business agenda with rest and relaxation in the beautiful surroundings of the mountains and offers an enjoyable schedule of activities for members, invited guests, and their spouses. For more information contact Belva M. Neale, Convention Coordinator, (613) 232-4297. October 4 — The fall meeting of the Forum for Industrial Participation (formerly CIBA) will be held at the Ottawa Congress Centre from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. The meeting is open to all who wish to attend. For more information please contact Bob Brown, (613) 733-0704.



	Page
	The Wednesday Report - Copyright 1990
		August 8, 1990

Publisher and Editor In Chief: Micheal J. O'Brien
Circulation Manager: Julie K. Kwiecinski
Editorial Staff Writer:
Wanda J. Brox
Contributing Editors:
Dale Grant (Toronto)
Christopher G. Trump (Toronto)
William Kane (Washington DC)
John Reed (London, England)
The Wednesday Report is published weekly by
MPRM Group Limited, 27 Yonge Street South, Aurora, Ontario, Canada L4G 1L8. Telephone: (416) xxx-xxxx use email contact
Subscription Rates: first class mail delivery $500 yearly, express delivery $650 yearly, single copy $15.
ISSN 0835-6122
in any manner whatsoever, is strictly forbidden.