The Wilson Plan

Signs of a drastic change in the arms program under Defense Secretary Charles E. Wilson appeared in Washington last week. The signs indicated that the Wilson plan to eliminate secondary producers and concentrate arms production with prime contractors would be adopted as policy. Items:

P: The Air Force canceled orders for $100 million worth of J47 jet engines made by Packard and Studebaker under license from General Electric, the primary producer. The cancellation amounted to a one-third cut in Studebaker and Packard engine orders, and meant that the two companies' engine contracts would end some time next year.

P: G.E. itself was ordered to stretch out its J47 production. The Air Force explained that the J-47, used in Boeing's B-47 medium bombers and North American's F-86 Sabre jet fighters, can now be operated twice as long as had been previously anticipated, without major overhauls.

P: The Navy canceled a $154 million order for J-4O jet fighter engines to be made by Ford under a license from Westinghouse. For more than a year Ford had been building a J-4O plant at Romulus, Mich. at an estimated cost to the U.S. of $50 million; it expected to get into production this summer. With the engine order canceled, Ford may buy the plant for automaking.

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