Word: bomber
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...Many Bucks. Carter had promised during the campaign that he would kill the B1. Just a year ago, he told the Democratic Platform Committee: "The B-1 bomber is an example of a proposed system which should not be funded and would be wasteful of taxpayers' dollars." But after his election last November, he somehow managed to give nearly all the people connected with the decision the impression that he would change his mind. To their astonishment, he declared firmly at his press conference last week that, at more than $100 million per bomber, the B-1 was both...
...close to production. But the crash of the B-1 has far wider ramifications than just the fate of 244 planes. For one thing, the Air Force had looked on the B-1 as a way to stave off until almost the 21st century the day when the manned bomber will be obsolete. For another. Carter's decision may make it harder to negotiate with the Soviets for a new treaty to limit strategic nuclear weapons. The reason: by dropping the B1, he is dramatically increasing U.S. reliance on the cruise missile, which the Russians view as the most...
...NATO Commander Alexander Haig, for example, describes the cruise missile as an "attractive alternative" to the B-1 for the alliance's arsenal. Declared General Georges Buis, a noted French military strategist: "The B-1 is a formidable weapon, but not terribly useful. For the price of one bomber, you can have 200 cruise missiles...
When Harold Brown took office in January, he was leaning toward the B1. Said he: "The big advantage [of a manned bomber] is that it complicates the other side's problems. The question is how much can you afford to pay for that as compared to the other ways you could spend the funds." Brown had served as Air Force Secretary in the Johnson Administration and believed thoroughly in the manned bomber as an essential element of the American strategic triad (the other two: land-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles and sea-launched missiles). Even earlier, as the 33-year...
Honoring his pre-election promise, President Carter yesterday suspended all plans for deploying the B-1 bomber, but said he intends to continue research and testing...