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plane Vol. 30, No. 10, Bethpage, N. Y., May 28, 7971 news ,. .1 64 %%‘ (‘ - —. F • . .__ ‘A b1 I - 7 Report to shareholders: some problems, but future holds promise The unexpectedly warm weather that bathed 3$ F-l4As originally contracted for and getting them print, and we have a right to correct their inac Bethpage on Thursday, May 20 may have influenced into the Fleet close to the scheduled date—and do curacies.” (He added that we also have “the right those who attended the annual Grumman Share ing it at a profit. He then turned to some of the not to buy a paper,” a remark that triggered ap holders’ meeting that day, for the “climate” inside “misinformation” published in the press and seen plause.) was warm and friendly, and spiced a bit by on television, and tried to put to rest some miscon In essence, then, Tomcat is healthy. humor. There was an air of relaxation that remain ceptions about Tomcat. For example, there were ed unshattered even during the serious accounts of statements that Tomcat was suffering from a Many sound programs business slumps and Congressional parsimony. In “weight growth” problem. He said that was errone Also healthy are some other aircraft, which deed, the tone was positive and optimistic. ous, that F-l4’s weight growth was 1½ percent, Towl referred to. There’s the E—2C Hawkeye, for Grumman Corporation Chairman of the Board which he termed “fantastic” in view of what hap example, and the EA-6B. First flight of the Hawkeye Clint Towl and President Lew Evans shared the pened on other aircraft, such as the six percent (the Navy’s newest Airborne Early Warning and spotlight, though other officers were called on to growth of A-6A. Control aircraft) came in January, two months answer questions from the floor relative to their ahead of schedule; and four of the EA-6B Electronic areas of responsibility. Sefs record sfraighf Countermeasures Intruders have been delivered to “Where have we been and where are we going?” He cited other misinformation: that F-14 is a the Navy, with eight more to go this year. was the thread running through the proceedings, multimission aircraft, when in reality it’s an air In space, Towl remarked that “We were extreme from Towl’s program-by-program account of the superiority fighter with added capabilities because ly pleased by the performance of Lunar Module state of the Company to E\ans’ discussion of the of its avionics system and missile-attack features; No. 8, which flew the Apollo 14 mission, in Febru F-14A Tomcat, its problems and its promise, its that modification of some other present aircraft ary.” (Apollo 15 is scheduled for July.) He also raison d’etre and current status. weapons system could do the job at less cost, alluded to continuing efforts on the Space Shuttle With the aid of color films projected on a large- though in fact there is no such “other plane” in any —and a new design concept that has piqued NASA’s scale screen, the shareholders saw the flight off om American aircraft stable; that F-14 can’t match the interest. (The last OAO, or Orbiting Astronomical cat No. 1, its difficulties as it headed toward home, best the Soviets have, though Tomcat is the only Observatory, has been delivered to NASA’s Goddard and its crash, so very close to the landing strip. But plane built to meet and to overcome the Soviet Space Flight Center and is to be launched in late despite that ball of fire, the men—Bill Miller up threat; the cost of the Tomcat had escalated un ‘71 or early ‘72.) front as pilot and Bob Smyth in the rear seat as duly, though in actuality the increased price tag All of this action, from Tomcat to OAO, is the Missile Control Officer—came out uninjured be was the result of inflation and a general business work of Grumman Aerospace Corporation, and ac cause of the flawless seat-ejection system. down-turn—and he quoted Secretary of Defense counted for 93 percent of over-all Grumman sales Lew, while admitting the crash was a setback, Melvin Laird to support his contention. and other income in 1970. temporarily, saw no real difficulty in producing the He mentioned, too, that “the press has a right to (Continued on puge 4) Zumwalt sees an expanding, more challenging role for Navy A new Navy doing new things in new However, said the Admiral, the sys to waging war at sea, such as, said local coverage and, in addition, are de ways: That was the essential message tem managers have not been accorded Zumwalt, “a new small escort, hydrofoil veloping land bases in “client states” of a talk by Adm. B. R. Zumwalt Jr., equal status, with two unfortunate re patrol boats, the surface effect ship, new beyond Soviet borders. Chief of Naval Operations, before the sults: Managers were “trapped” and submarines, various surface-to—surface U. S. Naval Test Pilot School Sympo not given deserved promotions “only missiles, submarine launched missiles, Soviet threat sium recently. As he said, “The only because they are too good in the job;” the air-capable ship, and others. And he To counter the Soviet threat, says boundaries of air and sea power are the and, seeing the inequity, many talented mentioned Secretary of Defense Melvin the Admiral, something new should be limits of our imagination.” officers avoided the systems management Laird’s conviction that “our respon added: “the Sea Control ship. He began with the How of building field. sibilities in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the “As now defined, the Sea Control ship this new Navy and emphasized that iVlediterranean and other ocean areas is an extremely austere 12,000—ton New routes to top ship, “Good management, like good leader will require construction of an addi configured in profile much like an LPH, ship, is easily recognized after the fact, But things are changing and the lot tional nuclear powered carrier capable of operating either VSTOL or but difficult to predict with certainty. of the systems manager will improve Admiral Zumwalt made a strong pitch helicopters and requiring no catapults “However, we must make the effort, because of four things, observed Ad for aircraft carriers, calling them indis or arresting gear. Enough helicopters since in today’s climate, neither the miral Zumwalt: pensable when at war and a vital de would be carried to keep one aloft at all military nor the aerospace industry can “First, as a result of reduced num terent when at peace. And he com times for surveillance and early warn afford managerial mistakes. The unsa bers of ships, there will be less oppor mented that “In these days of declin ing, with one or two for ‘reaction’ mis vory effect associated with adverse pub tunity for command-at-sea. ing numbers of overseas bases there is sions; and enough VSTOL aircraft to licity is bad enough, but it is a hard “Second, to increase continuity, the no other substitute for this capability. provide limited air defense, or permit and real fact that there aren’t enough remaining command tour lengths have He recalled the Middle East crisis limited strike against a surface target. resources available to waste through been increased. and the day that President Richard Ship and aircraft would be designed as management error.” “Third, command selection and pro Nixon, aboard the U. S. S. Saratoga, de complementary subsystems, with maxi There’s a need to run a tighter ship, motion boards have both been instructed clared: mum capability in weapons and sensors and though the “school of hard knocks” to regard program management of a “The power and the mobility, the being placed in the aircraft, minimum is essential, that “school” can be supple major weapons system or a major com readiness of the Sixth Fleet in this pe in the ship.” mented by courses, and he mentioned mand ashore as equivalent in respon riod, was absolutely indispensable in To Admiral Zumwalt, “it is the right one, a new Weapons System Acquisition sibility to a major command-at-sea. keeping the peace in the Mediterranean.” ship to support the Sea Control mission Management course. Its aim, said Ad “Most significantly, candidates for all The Admiral also pointed out “the in the right time frame. miral Zumwalt, is to “prepare officers to these jobs are not drawn from a com most significant aspect of naval war “The Sea Control ship, in conjunction assume major systems management posi mon reservoir of selectees at the same fare in which we have distinct advan with our existing and programmed tions.” And he made it clear that he be time, and our talent is thus being spread tage over the Soviet Navy is in our forces, will give us the flexibility to lieved that the “major weapons system more evenly ability to employ sea-based air power.” respond with a wide variety of options program managers contribute as much In short, the old traditional routes are That hardly removes the threat, though, to the many and varied threats which to over-all Navy posture as do officers no longer the only ones to the top. said Zumwalt, because the Soviets are exist. Having these options available in actively in tactical command.” In the offing, too, are new approaches building VSTOL aircraft for limited (Continued on page 5) No. 2 Tomcat on first test flight at Calverton “It was an absolutely clean flight from a systems termed “virtually flawless, with nothing adverse” Those watching the television on monitors might standpoint,” said deputy director of Flight Accep —Chief Test Pilot Chuck Sewell flew chase in an have felt the prickle of excitement, the faster-than- tance Bob Smyth of the first flight of Tomcat No.

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