CIA-RDP96-00789R000300760005-1

Air Force to Unveil Stealtir Bomdopood5-1
Service Discloses Previously Classified Details on Plane, Crew
By Molly Moore
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Air Force announced yester-
' day that its secret Stealth Advanced
Technology Bomber will be un-
veiled to the public in November
and revealed previously classified
details about the aircraft and its
crew.
Air Force officials said the futur-
istic B2 bomber has entered the
final stage of its assembly process
and will make its maiden flight in
late fall.
It will be the first of 132 bombers
scheduled for production.
The service disclosed that the
sophisticated, highly automated
bomber will be operated by a crew
of only two, compared with the
four-man crew of the B1 bomber.
The V-shaped craft is 69 feet long
with a wingspan of about 172 feet
and is 17 feet high, the Air Force
said in providing the first detailed
description of the intercontinental
bomber.
"The unique shape of the 'flying
wing' design results in an aircraft
that is only sligh ?/68geethanot RS
F15 fighter, yet has a wingspan al-
most as wide as a B52," the Air
Force said in a statement.
The long-range bomber's special
radar absorbent skin and curved
shape are designed to enable the
craft to penetrate deep into the So-
viet Union and evade radars and air
defenses longer than conventional
aircraft.
The Air Force, however, still re-
fused to disclose new cost estimates
on the the aircraft, one of its largest
"black," or secret, programs. Al-
though the service said it will not
reveal the new figures until later
this year, The Washington Post has
previously reported that the cost of
the bomber has climbed to an es-
timated $450 million per plane, a
20 percent increase over past es-
timates.
The Air Force said yesterday
that it has begun checking the first
bomber's systems and instrumen-
:
tation, starting the "final phase in
the assembly process leading to the
first flight."
The contractor, Northrop Corp.,
"is currently well into the assembly
phase of aircraft No. 2," the Ait
Force said.
The first six airplanes will be as-
signed to flight test duties, with five
eventually joining the operational
force.
The first plane will be "rolled out"
for public viewing at Air Force
Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., in mid-
November, according to the Air
Force. Officials said the plane will
not make its first flight until later in
the fall.
"Current plans call for the B2,
which will have a capability to de-
liver both nuclear and conventional
weapons against fixed and mobile
targets, to achieve operational ca-
pability in the early 1990s," the
statement said.
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CORRECTION
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The price of one dollar for a Canon
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