Bush Seen as Cooling on Fleet of 75 B-2s : Defense: Proponents criticize his half-hearted endorsement of craft. Pentagon held willing to settle for 50 or fewer.

The Bush Administration appears to be retreating from its request that Congress authorize a fleet of 75 B-2 Stealth bombers, making it likely that no more than half that number of the radar-evading aircraft will be built.

In a news conference Friday, President Bush offered a half-hearted endorsement of the $865-million-a-copy warplane, prompting advocates of the B-2 to complain that his lukewarm support was endangering one of the Pentagon’s highest-priority programs.

Sen. J. James Exon (D-Neb.), a key B-2 supporter on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Pentagon officials have signaled a willingness to accept the ultimate purchase of “50 or less” of the aircraft. He criticized the White House and the Pentagon for “changing with the wind every day” on the B-2 and said their indecision could doom the high-tech bomber.

Bush, asked if he would be satisfied with fewer than 75 B-2s, responded: “Well, I wouldn’t say that. We’ve got a proposal up there, and let’s see where we go with it.”

The President said he was not aware of recent comments attributed to Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggesting that the Administration was wavering on the controversial aircraft.

Bush’s statement led many on Capitol Hill to conclude that the Administration’s position is softening and that the White House will not throw its weight behind the B-2 program as House and Senate conferees hammer out details of the 1992 Pentagon budget.

“Their nonchalance is amazing to me,” said Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), a B-2 advocate. “He (the President) doesn’t seem to know there is a conference committee and that one of his top systems is hanging in the balance. He missed a golden opportunity this morning to explain to the American people why the B-2 matters.”

Dicks said Bush has not personally lobbied for the B-2 and has not dispatched Defense Secretary Dick Cheney or Powell in an effort to preserve its funding.

Air Force Secretary Donald B. Rice said Friday that he continued to support a force of 75 B-2s.

“What you are seeing going on back there now is not an argument about the merits of the case--there is widespread acceptance of the value of the capability,” Rice said in Los Angeles, where he was attending an Air Force Assn. forum. “What you are witnessing is a political struggle. It is not all that unusual when you come to the end game of the defense budget process in Congress each year.

“It was only 18 months ago that that number (75) was chosen,” he added. “Seventy-five was chosen as the quantity necessary to sustain an operational force of 60 bombers over a 40-year lifetime. That still looks to me like a sound choice, and would provide a very impressive level of capability.”

Asked if Cheney and Powell have an agreement about what the number of bombers should be, Rice said: “Yes, 75.”

He rejected suggestions that the Air Force could field a fleet limited to the 15 aircraft now under contract at Northrop Corp., which is the prime contractor. So far, three planes have been built.

“I would simply repeat that I don’t believe 15 is a credible proposal about what size makes sense from an operational point of view,” Rice said.

The B-2 is the most expensive aircraft ever built, with current estimates of $65 billion for a fleet of 75 bombers. Although the B-2 was designed to be a long-range nuclear bomber able to penetrate sophisticated Soviet air defenses, the Air Force in recent months has been emphasizing its ability to deliver conventional bombs and missiles in regional conflicts.

The plane’s future was further cast in doubt by the disclosure last month that it had failed a test of its invisibility to an unspecified type of radar.

Indications that Bush and the Pentagon are willing to settle for fewer than 75 planes led some opponents of the B-2 to declare the program “dead.”

“It’s a dead airplane, but the people who support it don’t seem to know that it’s dead,” said Rep. John R. Kasich (R-Ohio), a longtime foe of the bomber. “There will be no more than the 15 we’ve already authorized, because we can’t afford it, it’s strategically unnecessary and it doesn’t work. All this illustrates is how difficult it is to kill a major weapons system.”

The future of the B-2 is a central issue in House-Senate negotiations on a compromise 1992 defense budget. The closed talks are now nearly six weeks old.

The House this week offered to drop its attempts to kill the B-2 program. Until now, the House had insisted that no money be made available for B-2 production, but negotiators offered $1.4 billion to keep the Northrop production line open until a final decision on the B-2’s future could be made next year.

The Senate had not responded by Friday.

Broder reported from Washington and Vartabedian from Los Angeles. Staff writer Paul Houston in Washington contributed to this story.