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WASHINGTON - New statistics documenting NATO's dependence on US weapons technology during the Kosovo war could be good news for American defense contractors, including the top three, Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., and Raytheon Co.
The detailed review by the US Air Force of combat missions against Serbia shows NATO's heavy reliance on technologically superior US equipment. The alliance says it's determined to update its own armaments; at a meeting in Toronto last week NATO agreed on 58 initiatives that if properly funded could do so, officials said.
''It's one of the most important shortfalls we must address,'' NATO Secretary General Javier Solana said.
This commitment could means millions in sales for US defense companies for mundane items like secure data links and communications gear and ground surveillance radars. Potential purchases also include Lockheed Martin night attack laser guidance pods, sensors, and mission planning computers; Boeing satellite-guided smart bombs; Raytheon laser and antiradar bombs; and General Electric and United Technologies Inc. Pratt & Whitney engines.
''The companies that make the weapons systems will use the performance stats for foreign military sales,'' said David Baker, a defense analyst with Charles Schwab Washington Research Group.
The engine makers, for example, can boast that their products demonstrated excellent reliability, thereby bolstering their bid to power 80 United Arab Emirates F-16s, a contract worth millions of dollar in future revenue, said Baker, himself a former Gulf War F-15E pilot.
Lockheed's F-16 fighter - equipped with night vision equipment, data link for receiving target information, and laser or anti-radar smart bomb equipment - highlights the technology gap, analysts said.
The aircraft flew nearly 30 percent of the roughly 13,000 combat sorties NATO launched during its 78-day air campaign against Serbia, the largest number of any aircraft in the coalition.
About 64 F-16 CG laser-bomb fighters and radar-killing F-16 CJ models based at Aviano, Italy flew 4,047 sorties against Serb targets. In contrast, France flew 650 strike missions, the United Kingdom 500, and Germany 260 of the 13,000 combat sorties, according to NATO.
''NATO's civilian committees placed strict criteria for targeting selection and even stricter prohibitions on collateral damage,'' said Michael Pinto, an aerospace and defense analyst with Forecast International, of Newton, Conn. ''This necessarily limited strike sorties to primarily US aircraft,'' Pinto said.