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U.S. PANEL RECOMMENDS REDUCTION IN DEFENSE OFFSETS
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- A presidential commission has issued interim
recommendations that the Bush administration move to reduce defense offsets
in U.S. arms sales.The commission said Washington should reach a multilateral agreement
with U.S. trading partners to "reduce or prohibit the use of offsets in
defense trade and work cooperatively with other countries to shift their
offset demands away from defense production which supplants U.S. work and
jobs, and toward activities that could serve their economic and political
needs, but with benign or even positive effects for the United States."Instead, the commission recommends that the Pentagon allow for the
increase in the involvement of foreign contractors in the research and
development stages of new defense systems to reduce the demand of their
governments for offsets.
CONGRESS SAYS V-22 COPTER MIGHT NOT WORK
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The watchdog agency of Congress has cast doubts whether
the V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft can work.The Government Accounting Office, in a harsh report, said the Pentagon
was ready to decide on full production of the V-22 without determining
whether the design is feasible. The report appears to be ensure a halt in
the V-22, a program closely followed by militaries in the Middle East."Our review of the V-22 program, which is already in low-rate initial
production, revealed that the department planned to proceed with a full-rate
production decision without knowing whether new technology could meet Marine
Corps requirements; whether the design would work as required; or whether
the design could be produced within cost, schedule, and quality targets,"
the GAO report said.