Thursday December 16 1:08 PM ET 

 U.S. Military Ready for Y2K After $3.4 Billion Fix

 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military computers and weapons are now ready for high-tech war after the critical
 Y2K roll-over on Dec. 31, thanks to a $3.6 billion fix over the past 18 months, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

 ``I think it was nearly miraculous,'' Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre told a news conference to announce that
 more than 7,600 U.S. military computer systems had been fixed, tested and were ready to advance to the year 2000
 without major confusion.

 ``This is a war-fighting issue for us. This isn't a computer geek issue. We are ready. We anticipate absolutely no
 problems in the Department of Defense,'' Hamre said.

 He also echoed a statement from the British Defense Ministry on Thursday that no nuclear missile warning crisis was
 expected between the western allies and Russia because of possible computer glitches in Moscow.

 Hamre and other officials said the Pentagon had provided Russia with about $10 million to help secure its nuclear
 weapons system and they were confident there would be no missile warning crisis between Moscow and Washington as
 the new year dawned.

 He told reporters the Russian Defense Ministry had assured the Pentagon that its computers would not precipitate a
 crisis by perhaps mistakenly indicating a U.S. nuclear attack and that a U.S.-Russian military team to be set up in
 Colorado next week would help avert such a problem.

 ``We really do not worry about Russia missiles going off or early-warning systems giving false reports or anything like
 that,'' said Hamre.

 ``When they tell us that their radar systems are not going to suddenly plot trajectories of incoming U.S. missiles, we
 believe them.''

 The Pentagon said all but two of its 2,101 ``mission critical'' military computer systems such as those involved with
 missile warning radars had been upgraded over the last 18 months at a cost of $3.6 billion. Those two systems are used
 internally by the Defense Mapping Agency and will be fixed in January.

 A total of about 5,500 military computer systems ranging from bookkeeping to payroll have also been updated and are
 ready to go, said Hamre.

 ``People will get paid,'' he told reporters.

 Navy Rear Admiral Robert Willard, deputy director for current readiness and capabilities on the military Joint Chiefs of
 Staff, said U.S. defense computers had been repeatedly tested worldwide and were ready to go.

 Both Hamre and Willard also said the military computers of NATO allies were generally prepared for the new year
 although that readiness varied from country to country.

 Some U.S. military families could be affected overseas if local power and other systems fail, Hamre said, but U.S. troops
 and weapons would not be affected by such problems.

 Hamre said there was some concern that computer hackers might try to take advantage of confusion in the new year
 period and that viruses might be planted in defense computers that would be triggered by the roll-over.

 He said that special precautions were being taken to detect and neutralize such viruses.