4 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000300810003-7 Air Force Unveils the B2, Its Radar-Evading Stealth Bomber By George C. Wilson Washington Post Staff 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- ers.who built this newest strategic bomber erupted as the hangar doors parted, revealing @black-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’ B2* 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 to aécommodate t! at eet ogee two extra to serve as - relief creW during an exhausting flight from the United States to the Soviet Union and back. ered by four jet the | wing, with hausts £6" reduce detection’ from radar or heat-seeking sensors. The B2 will fly at-sabsonie speeds, and will need aerial refueling to reach Soviet targets from U. S. bases and return. Using space-age ma as carbon composites. that absorb radar énergy, the plane is designed 2ahaverd THe WASHINGTON Post 4 ASSOCIATED PRESS 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 fiiiy radar profile 26 it can close in undétected, giving defend- no time to shoot at it, Qpder'- detelofiment’ for 10} “foe 510 years. if can carry nuclear and conventional mis- siles and they mn thay fe the older soa thé of the bombers, with the one ro! out today scheduled to fly early 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 its fiscal 1990 budget in January. The Air Force until today has cloaked the Stealth bomber pro- gram in secrecy, Aldridge said the Air Force decided to reveal what the B2 Jooks like because it would soon be flying anyway, meaning the service would not be able to hide the plane’s appearance from either ApRraxed FORE ASE: Re OONB! down on this countryside of brown desert and sharp hills, * Pa Hundreds of Northrop security’ police, some leading police dogs, watched reporters and other guests every step of the way as they moved around the Air Force plant here. The bomber was kept 200 feet away from“ reporters and a guests in the grandstand, with its hose pointed toward the guests so the secret featureg of the flying "2, wing's aft end were/not revealed, In U.S.-Soviet hegotiations to ~rpeduce the strategle weapons now t Force Se plans ul 492 pdinted at each superpower, there has been agreement that each side should be able to Igpk at ‘the weap- ons of the other through on-site inspection, Critics “of the B2 con- tend the Air Force gecrecy imposed on thé bomber wilf undercut those arms-control negotiations, Asked here todjy whether he would allow the Sgviéts to get a close look at the Stealth, Aldridge replied, “We'll let them count it, but we're not going to fet them get up close to it.” If he had his way, said - the secretary, who has announced he will leave office soon, the Soviets would get no closer than the 200- foot range reporters and guests were kept at today, , Another criticism of the B2 is Os GPR REBUN TAOR - guctcar Hire in times of tension, Un- der this theory, espoused by the rd 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 B. Byron (D-Md.), a mertiber of the House 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 B2s are enough. “A lot is going to depend on its test program,” she said, She said the future of the B2 fleet will have COGSOOS1DOGHuPYy as the Program moves into the early 1990s. The Air Force in the 1960s built 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 fea doks “ery similar “to the by the Bate Jack y jn the’ 1940s. 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.” !