~S4 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



one-third of FAA's R. & D. budget for the next 6 years, the subcom- 

 mittee concluded that "there is absolutely no way that the FAA can 

 meet this funding schedule and still fuliill its designated responsibili- 

 ties in critical areas of aviation R. & D." The subcommittee recom- 

 mended against authorizing Aeros.it except for study purposes. 



Once again in 1977, although the subcommittee received votes of 

 confidence from the full committee and the House, the Senate declined 

 to go along with the subcommittee's concept of an annual authoriza- 

 tion for FAA's R. & D. 



AIRCRAFT SALES TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES 



During the year, Milford became increasingly disturbed with the 

 attitude of the Carter administration toward the sale of aircraft and 

 aerospace products abroad. He pointed out, in a February 14, 1977 

 letter to President Carter: 



Many of my aviation-oriented colleagues in Congress, as well as the entire 

 aerospace industry, have become alarmed by recent press accounts of alleged new 

 policies concerning the curtailment of foteign military aircraft sales by your admin- 

 istration. To limit military aircraft sales to various parts of the world, without 

 careful study of all the impacts to the U.S., while having no mechanism to prevent 

 our foreign competitors from making these same sales, would be devastating. * * * 

 While civil aviation is the primary concern of this subcommittee, our civil aircraft 

 sales are now and will be inseparably linked with foreign military aviation sales. 



One of Milford's subcommittee staff consultants, famed X-15 pilot 

 A. Scott Crossfield, also felt strongly on the issue and wrote retired 

 Air Force General Bernard H. Schriever on July 8 that "aerospace 

 export has virtually ground to a halt." Crossfield blamed the 1976 

 arms control act "compounded by the President's human rights 

 declarations, exaggerated by the eager liberals on the White House 

 staff, further exaggerated by State's desire to respond to the President's 

 declared policy. * * *" 



THE HEATED MLS CONTROVERSY 



Increasingly as 1977 progressed, a split developed within the 

 subcommittee. The issue of the microwave landing system (MLS) 

 and the extent of implementation of that new system by the FAA 

 sparked one of the most heated controversies the Milford subcom- 

 mittee experienced. The argument involved the so-called "doppler 

 system" once investigated but rejected by the FAA and subsequently 

 pushed by the United Kingdom, as against the so-called "Time 

 Reference Scanning Beam" (TRSB) favored by the FAA. By a closcly- 

 divided vote, the International Civil Aviation Organization supported 

 the system favored by the United States. Following lightly-attended 

 hearings in February, Milford inserted language into his subcommittee 



