B-2 bomber costs level out at $44.7 billion
     WASHINGTON (August 14, 1997 6:52 p.m. EDT) -- Government audi-
 tors said Thursday the Defense Department has begun stabilizing the
 costs of building B-2 stealth bombers as battles in Congress con-
 tinue over whether to build more of them.
     The General Accounting Office, a congressional watchdog agency,
 said the total estimated costs for 21 of the planes has either
 already in service or on the production line has dropped to $44.7
 billion, down from a 1995 estimate of $44.9 billion.
     "The estimated cost declined even though Congress added new
 requirements to the B-2 program and provided additional funds of
 $734 million in fiscal years 1995,1996 and 1997," the report said.
     Each year there is a battle in Congress over whether to spend
 more money on the world's most expensive plane and whether to order
 more of them. Some argue that with the disappearance of the Soviet
 threat there is no justification for increasing the fleet beyond
 21. Others say more are needed to give the United States military
 invincibility.
     Although costs have not changed substantially since 1995, they
 could increase if the flight test program is extended beyond its
 planned expiration next March, the GAO said.  Flight testing was
 planned to take four years but has taken eight years, the report
 said. The B-2s are scheduled to be fully capable in 1999.
     Other factors that could increase the cost, the report said, are
 more performance deficiencies than anticipated and difficulties in
 maintaining the plane's skin surfaces that absorb rather than
 reflect radar signals.
     The House has voted to provide $505 million next year for the
 B-2, $331 million more than President Clinton and the Pentagon re-
 quested. The extra money would go to start a program for adding nine
 more of the bombers to the existing fleet of 21.
     The administration has threatened a veto over the extra B-2
 money, which is not included in the Senate version of the defense
 spending bill.
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   British artist is first woman to fly around world in helicopter
     LONDON (August 15, 1997 3:22 p.m. EDT) - British artist Jennifer
 Murray became the first woman to fly a helicopter around the world
 when she landed back in England Friday.
     After almost 100 days flying over 26 countries with co-pilot
 Quentin Smith, she said: "The challenge -- that was the top thing
 for us."
     Their 30,000 mile voyage took them over the Pyramids of Egypt
 and above Arctic wastes. Throughout the trip, Murray carried in her
 flying jacket a four-leaf clover given to her by her mother for luck.
     Murray, nicknamed the "flying grandma," said on landing as she
 hugged her family: "Oh boy, wow, what a homecoming.  It has been
 incredible."
     The pair, flying in their R44 piston helicopter, hit rough
 weather over the English Channel at the beginning of their epic
 voyage.
     They ducked sandstorms over Saudi Arabia and just missed a major
 storm that hit Hong Kong harbor.
     They were welcomed home by fellow helicopter pilot the Duchess
 of York who said: "I think she is just extraordinary and I am com-
 pletely humbled and lost for words."
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  Outsider Picked as CEO - Unicom Exec Mullin Named Delta President
     Atlants, Aug. 15 -- Delta Air Lines stepped outside its own
 family today to name Unicom Corp. executive Leo F. Mullin as its
 new president and chief executive officer.
     Mullin, 54, was to be introduced at a late-morning news con-
 ference, where the Atlanta-based airline also planned to announce
 a new chairman. The name of the chairman was not released ahead of
 time.
     Mullin and the new chairman will succeed Ronald W. Allen,
 Delta's long-time chairman and CEO, who retired July 31 after the
 board refused to renew his employment contract.  Allen had worked
 at Delta for 34 years.
     Mullin's hiring marks the first time Delta has named a new CEO
 from outside its own headquarters.
 ----------------------------------
    Moscow - The head of Russia's air force said today that nearly
 half of his officers and enlisted men would be axed under a long-
 delayed military shake-up.
      Gen. Pyotr Deinekin told a news conference that 160,000 men
 would be cut from the air force and air defense troops, which have
 a current combined strength of around 340,000.
      But he also warned the government to take care of the dismissed
 troops.
     "The demobilization of 160,000 officers and men will involve
 social upheavals if the government fails to provide for their mater-
 ial well-being," he said.
     Deinekin said a top pilot who had served in the air force for
 10 years received a monthly salary of $228, which he said was hardly
 enough to maintain a family.
                         Forces Merging
     The air force and air defense troops are being merged as part of
 the government's plans to streamline the military and cut bureau-
 cratic duplication of tasks.
     Under the reforms, the strategic missile troops, military space
 forces and military space air defense troops will be regrouped into
 one force.
     President Boris Yeltsin has said he wants to reduce Russia's
 armed forces by half a million to 1.2 million men by the end of
 1998. His long-term aim is to turn the huge, conscript-based but
 largely ineffective military machine into a leaner, all-volunteer
 fighting force.
     Though the government has made military reform a top priority it
 knows it faces an uphill struggle. The armed forces, heavily funded
 in Soviet times, are demoralized and in disarray.
--- DB 1.39/004487
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