High Cost of the B-2 Stealth Bomber

Surprise of surprises, the B-2 flew! Whoopee. Will it “fly” in Congress? Is Congress to rubber-stamp it? The pilot termed the two-hour flight “enjoyable.” But is the entire package “enjoyable” to us, the taxpayers, the voters? (Maybe “stealth” refers to stealing from taxpayers.) The world’s costliest plane has a hidden cost: its cost to long-running, already-strained relations with the Soviet Union.

Were production approved, I see its arrival as another upping of the ante in the long-simmering arms race--a costly, dangerous aggravation. The Soviets would be forced to respond with a matching weapons system. Half a billion dollars per bomber; added costs would propel its eventual cost to about $1 billion per. What are we getting for this almost-incalculable sum? Security? We already have more than enough security. Whose best interests are being served? This time it is Northrop’s profits. We need adequate defense, yet we need a good working relationship with the Soviet Union (not meaning coziness or hand-holding), but not this expensive overkill at taxpayers’ expense.

Unprecedented domestic problems scream for our addressing them: AIDS, homelessness (including up to half of whom need psychiatric care), the crack cocaine problem and poverty. I think it would be wiser to return to funding for domestic problems. But Northrop would see less money and would scream! The domestic problems are worsening, yet monies may be diverted to pay for the B-2. Former President Reagan simply ignored these problems. I hope Congress takes a dim view of this “overfed war bird,” a real turkey.

CURTISS B. KELLOGG

Chatsworth