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

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00789R000300810003-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 16, 2000
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: November 22, 1988
• Content Type: NSPR

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,"