What's Do-able?

Everyone in Washington knows that the arms program is behind schedule. But not everyone is agreed on the cause. Is the program poorly run, or were production goals too high in the first place? By last week, both the civilian bosses of the program and the armed forces had come to an agreement; the goals are too high, they decided, if a big civilian economy is to be kept running. As a result, the military trimmed its scheduled requirements for the next year by an average 20% on everything from intercontinental bombers to underpants. The impossible, said Munitions Board Chairman John D. Small, has been replaced by the doable. Said he: "We've squeezed the water out."

The man who squeezed hardest was Harold R. Boyer, boss of the Aircraft Production Board, which runs the biggest part (dollarwise) of the arms program. WThen he went to Washington 13 weeks ago (TIME, Aug. 6), Boyer's first job was to make flying visits to all the aircraft and engine plants, adding up their needs and estimates of the doable. What he found was startling. Schedules asked by the military were so far above the doable that aircraft plants and suppliers were fabricating more parts than could be used in completed planes for months to come. Thus, scarce materials were being needlessly tied up. When Boyer added up machine-tool requirements for the plane program, he found the schedules called for more tools in the next year than any machine-tool man thought the hamstrung industry could possibly produce.

The new schedules mean, for example, that one bomber, originally scheduled for delivery at 20 planes a month, now has a goal of 15 a month, which is still five more than current production. The wringing out means, says Boyer, that the date for completing the 95-wing Air Force, first set for mid-1953, won't be met until three or four months later. If Congress votes money for an extra 40 air wings, they cannot possibly be shoehorned into the existing program. The only way such a bigger Air Force can be built: keep production at its peak longer than previously planned.

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