American Notes AIR FORCE

The real reason the Pentagon unveiled the hitherto secret F-117A Stealth fighter last week was not to show off a nifty new plane or demonstrate military glasnost. It was part of a campaign to persuade Congress and the public to build another, far more expensive, radar-evading Stealth plane: the B-2 bomber. But while the Air Force purchased 59 Stealth fighters for a total cost of $6.26 billion, it wants to buy 132 Stealth bombers for a staggering ^ $72 billion. Some critics say the B-2 program could actually cost more than twice that.

The color photographs and eight-minute video of the delta-winged F-117A did not make the case for new technology. For one thing, the Pentagon admitted that when two of the fighters were used during the Panama invasion, their precision bombs missed their targets by several hundred yards. Moreover, an Air Force report released last week indicated that the life-span of the older B-52 bombers will extend well into the next century, reinforcing growing support in Congress for a drastic cut in the B-2 program -- or even killing it altogether.