AIR FORCE UNVEILS THE B2, ITS RADAR-EVADING STEALTH BOMBER

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Body:  Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000300810003-7
 Air Force Unveils the B2, Its Radar-Evading Stealth Bomber
 By George C. Wilson
 MA"',ow" Pin SI,11 Writer
 PALMDALE, Calif., Nov. 22-
 With a guard dog standing under
 each wingtip, the nation's $500 mil-
 lion Stealth bomber was rolled out
 of the dark of its top-secret hangar
 here today into the sunshine of open
 space for its public unveiling.
 Shouts and cheers from hundreds
 of the 2,200 Northrop Corp. work-
 er&.who built this newest strategic
 bomber erupted as the hangar
 doors parted, revealing a F ck and
 gray radar-evading aircraft that
 looks like a stingray,
 "We are not just rolling out
 America's newest strategic bomb-
 er," said Air Force Secretary Ed-
 ward C. Aldridge Jr. "We are ush-
 ering in a new age of strategic de-
 terrence."
 The Air Force secretary said it
 was "America's enduring hope and
 prayer that this magnificent aircraft
 will never fly in anger" but instead
 will further deter nuclear war be-
 tween the United States and Soviet
 Union.
 Should deterrence fail, the mis-
 sion of the Stealth bomber is to fly
 high over the Soviet Union search-
 ing out and destroying missiles that
 have not already been fired and
 knocking out command posts un-
 touched by retaliatory waves of
 U.S. missiles fired earlier from land
 and sea,
 The bomber, designated the'12 "
 looked strikingly sleek and small as
 it stood on a prairie of cement out-
 side the Air Force factory where it
 was assembled. Every surface has
 been smoothed and rounded to slip
 throdgh rather than reflect radar
 beams.        wfi    has a
 routfd     pr -    ,_ bT enough
 to accommodate t      ots plus
 at le     or two extra to serve as
 retie  're, during an exhausting
 flight from the United States to the
 Soviet Union and back.
 The plane rs RtsW   by`four jet
 eilgifds t pods flop the wing, with
 heavily' mashed air intakes and ex-
 hausts to reduce detection from
 radar or heat-seeking sensors. The
 B2 will fly at. sUft t io speeds, and
 will need aerial refueling to reach
 Soviet targets from U.S. bases and
 ASSOOAIt0 PROS
 As tow truck and security guards move away, the Air Force's new B2 Stealth bomber sits for its first public pictures at Northrop Corp. plant in Palmdale, Calif.
 to offer a      r pCO6te."9'~it can    Hundreds of Northrop security'
 close in ueteefed, giving defend-  police, some leading police dogs,
 er no time to shoot at it. L,i  ' watched reporters and other guests
 de   ment of  f`,' ra if can       every step of the way as they
 carry nuclear and conventional mis- moved around the Air Force plant
 Aff`de- ' here. The bomber, was kept 200
 wets to         feet away from reporters and
 same as         the secret feature* of the flying
 I tail- ::.wing's aft end were not revealed.
 next year to nearby Edwards Air
 Force Base, where it will be tested,
 and become operational in the
 '1990s. The cost of the fleet of 132
 bombers ranges from $60 billion to
 $70 billion, or from $450 million to
 $500 million a plane. Aldridge said
 the Air Force will provide detailed
 B2 cost estimates when it submits
 should be able to lQpk at the weap-
 ons of the other hrough on-site
 inspection, Critics f the B2 con-
 tend the Air Force  crecy imposed
 on the bomber wilfundercut those
 arms-control negot tions.
 Asked here t y whether he
 would allow the victs to get a
 close look at the Stealth, Aldridge
 its fiscal 1990 budget in January. repnea, -rue a let them count it, but
 The Air Force until today has we're not going to let them get up
 cloaked the Stealth bomber pro- close to it." If he had his way, said
 gram in secrecy, Aldridge said the - the secretary, who has announced
 Air Force decided to reveal what he will leave office soon, the Soviets
 the B2 looks like because it would would get no closer than the 200-
 soon be flying anyway, meaning the                             foot range reporters and guests
 service would not be able to hide were kept at today,
 return.
 Using,            i  rsQcecLo   I ~re >~      1r1fb~~~   /O at ipcpp~dl~                         R~6     9'0E101~DuRly as the
 space-age m                            s, t I   s arm      u8 ,    Go             ter   program moves into the early
 as carbon corpposaes `that absorb down on this countryside of brown - yutukyr nre in times of tension, Un- 1990s.
 radar energy, the plane is designed desert and sharp hills, ' der this theory, espoused by the   The Air Force in the 1960s built
 Union of Concerned Scientists and
 others, the Soviets would see U.S.
 missiles such as the MX as a first-
 strike threat to Soviet missiles. The
 B2, which would fly as a mop-up
 operation after the United States
 had launched its missiles under this
 scenario, would attack the mobile
 missiles that the Soviet Union had
 held back for a second-strike re-
 taliatory blow.
 Aldridge dismissed this argument
 at a news conference after the cer-
 emony today, contending that the
 B2 would put more of the Soviets'
 warmaking capability at risk and
 therefore help convince Soviet plan-
 ners that a nuclear strike on the
 United States would be a losing
 proposition.
 Rep. Beverly 8, B   (b-Md.), a
 member of the' Muse Armed Ser-
 vices Committee and early backer
 of the Stealth bomber, agreed with
 Aldridge that deployment of the B2
 would not be destabilizing, but said
 she was not sure all 132 would have
 to be built to provide this extra
 measure of deterrence. She said
 Congress might decide 50 to 100
 132s are enough.
 "A lot is going to depend on its
 test program," she said. She said
 a strategic bomber designated the
 RS70 to perform the same mission
 as the B2. President John F. Ken-
 nedy, after a fierce debate in Con-
 gress and elsewhere, canceled that
 version of the B70 bomber in 1962
 on the argument that its added de-
 terrent value was not enough to
 justify the cost of producing it,
 Gen, Larry D. Welch, Air Force
 chief of staff, mindful of the coming
 budget crunch, said the B2 "com-
 pletely warrants continued, unwa-
 vering support ... the overriding
 purpose of this new bomber is to
 ensure that we never need employ
 it.,,
 The flying wing B2 rolled out
 today looks :Very slm(ar to the
 e
 $ des    by the ate sah
 Northrop   t ie_ 1940x.. The Air
 Force then was enthusiastic about
 the flying wing, but canceled its
 order for 30 after one crashed,
 money became scarce and then-Air
 Force Secretary Stuart Symington
 insisted on a merger of aerospace
 companies, which  Northrop op-
 posed.
 Thomas V. Jones, chief executive
 officer of Northrop Corp., today
 said that Jack Northrop had been
 briefed on this new version of the
 flying wing shortly before he died.
 In closing his speech hailing the B2,
 Jones said, "Jack Northrop, we sa-
 lute you,"