AEROSPACE

Joint STARS Radar Plane Grounded: The Air Force said it has grounded a Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System spy plane modified by Northrop Grumman Corp. in a $9-billion program because the wrong rivets were used on the big jet. Northrop Grumman has already modified and delivered one of the four-engine E-8C “Joint STARS” planes, a military version of the four-engine Boeing 707, to the Pentagon and is due to modify 19 more to watch over enemy battlefields. The proposed fleet of planes are designed to keep track of military movements. Northrop Grumman is producing electronics for the planes and modifying them at Lake Charles, La., and Melbourne, Fla.