'Air Poww'
'c
qly'Ga ified Details on P
Service Discloses Pretiou SS lane, Crew
      F15 fighter, yet has a wingspan al- tation, starting the "final phase in
By Molly Moore . 'k
Washington Post Staff Writer most as wide as a B52," the Air the assembly process leading to the
Force said in a statement. first flight."
The Air Force announced yester- The long-range bomber's special The contractor, Northrop Corp',
day that its secret Stealth Advanced radar absorbent skin and curved "is currently well into the assembly
Technology Bomber will be un- shape are designed to enable the phase of aircraft No. 2," the Ait
veiled to the public in November craft to penetrate deep into the So- Force said.
     and revealed previously classified viet Union and evade radars and air The first six airplanes will be as~
     defenses longer than conventional signed to flight test duties, with fivq
     details about the aircraft and its
                crew. aircraft. eventually joining the operationaj\
  Air Force officials said the futur- The Air Force, however, still re- force. J
istic B2 bomber has entered the fused to disclose new cost estimates The first plane will be "rolled oue
final stage of its assembly process on the the aircraft, one of its largest for public viewing at Air Forog
"black," or secret, programs. Al- Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., in mid.
and will make its maiden flight. in, though the service said it will not November, according to the Aii
late fall. reveal the new figures until later Force. Officials said the plane win
It will be the first of 132 bombers this year, The Washington Post has not make its first flight until later ip
scheduled for production. previously reported that the cost of the fall.
The service disclosed that the
the bomber has climbed to an es- "Current plans call for the B2
sophisticated, highly automated timated $450 million per plane, a which will have a capability to de-
bomber will be operated by a crew 20 percent increase over past es- liver both nuclear and conventionit
of only two, 'compared with the timates. weapons against fixed and mobi19
four-man crew of the BI bomber. The Air Force said yesterday targets, to achieve operational ca~
The V-shaped craft is 69 feet long that it has begun checking the first pability in the early 1990s," the
with a wingspan of about 172 feet bomber's systems and instrumen-' statement said.
and is 17 feet high, the Air Force
~ES3
Kt.
-r,
71C-
     Not
     "is
     e
said in providing the first detailed

description of the intercontinental
bomber.
"The unique shape of the 'flying
wing' design r
 t1lat is only Saw aofflaft
I n9E
Rgy A
CORORAECT10118
               The RitArwa"uzu
A-A,
                    %Wum
f one dollar for a canon
!M Supreme should have
publishod as $179.95. The Wash
Let us advise you and
nr rrnrPQAnt unu