Don’t Be Too Quick to Crank Up B-2 : Production costs for the Stealth bomber and its ‘silver bullet’ could be enormous

Over the years, during the many debates over the merits of the B-2 Stealth bomber, there has been one constant: The arguments have been surprisingly nonpartisan.

During the governor’s race, for example, Kathleen Brown voiced her support for the continuation of production of the B-2, which is built in Pico Rivera and Palmdale. That led to a quick reaction by the campaign offices of Pete Wilson, who said that the governor has been one of the aircraft’s staunchest supporters. Some of the strategic bomber’s best friends in Congress have been Democrats, including powerful Sens. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).

Moreover, during the last presidential race, the B-2 was not a political issue at all. Both the Republican incumbent, George Bush, and the eventual winner, Bill Clinton, said during the campaign that they would go no further than the current order of a fleet of 20 of the radar-eluding planes. We must note here that we agreed. In 1992, we said that President Bush’s scaling back of the enormously costly B-2 program and other nuclear weapons programs amounted to a significant contribution to world peace.

So, we were a little surprised over the sudden gush of optimism about the B-2’s production prospects that were generated by two recent events. The first was the Republican takeover of both houses of Congress, which led B-2 defense contractor Northrop Grumman to offer to sell the government 20 more Stealths at a fixed price of $11.4 billion. The second event was the addition of Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) to the House National Security Committee.

Crank up B-2 production? Not so fast.

There are a few other matters to take into account. One is the Pentagon’s cancellation, just this month, of Northrop Grumman’s $13.3-billion advanced stealth missile program. The missile had been planned as a “silver bullet” to be carried by--you guessed it--the Stealth bomber. The Pentagon and Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch said that the missile’s development delays and skyrocketing costs had made it “too expensive a silver bullet.”

And in September, a congressional study of the bomber by the General Accounting Office contained an important warning. Testing delays and problems with the B-2’s radar-evading technology, its terrain avoidance radar and its computer software were threatening to raise the costs of the first 20 bombers beyond a government-imposed ceiling of $44.4 billion .

We suggest that these recent disclosures will figure as heavily, if not more so, in any talk of refueling the B-2 production line. Hold the champagne.