Scrap Bigeye Bomb, Capitol Critics Urge

WASHINGTON — The Bigeye bomb, the Pentagon’s proposed new generation chemical weapon, is “a horror story” with too many unresolved problems and should be scrapped, a bipartisan House and Senate group said today.

The critics released a General Accounting Office report that concluded the weapon “presents major and continuing inconsistencies” and is not ready for production.

The bomb is designed to combine two chemicals in a deadly compound shortly after it is dropped from an aircraft. The weapon has been plagued by problems such as leaks that developed after the chemicals were mixed.

“This is not a success story. It’s a horror story by any standard I can determine,” Rep. Dante B. Fascell (D-Fla.) told a news conference.

New Start Suggested

Fascell, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Pentagon should scrap the Bigeye and “start from scratch” on another weapon. He and others in the bipartisan group said they will try to eliminate funds for the bomb when Congress considers defense appropriations measures.

Sen. David Pryor (D-Ark.) described the Bigeye as a “turkey about to gobble up a lot of funds we ought to use elsewhere in the Department of Defense.”

Rep. John Edward Porter (R-Ill.) called the bomb “fatally flawed” and said it would not offer any real deterrence because the Soviet Union knows of its problems.