The Pentagon's Porsche

By Janice Castro

Some folks say the B-2 STEALTH BOMBER is worth its weight in gold, but that's not true: it is now worth three times that, thanks to defense cutbacks. The Air Force says the aircraft cost $44.4 billion to develop. The Pentagon originally planned to build about 130 but has scaled its orders back to 20, or a cool $2.2 billion apiece. And costs may rise, since the Air Force is having trouble getting the much vaunted Stealth radar-evading technology to work properly.