DEFENSE

Navy Halts $1.5-Billion Defense Program: In another response to the end of the Cold War, the Navy has ordered a contractor to cease work on a $1.5-billion computer program to help hunt Soviet submarines. The service told Boeing Defense & Space Group of Seattle to halt the development of the system, known as the P-3C Update IV. It was a computer hardware and software program that was to be used aboard the P-3C Orion, the Navy’s long-range, land-based anti-submarine warfare aircraft, a Navy spokesman said. A Navy statement cited the decreased Soviet threat and the $1.5-billion cost as reasons for canceling the program. The Navy had spent $400 million in four years on the system.