U.S. sending more aircraft to Gulf
     WASHINGTON -- November 18, 1997 3:47 p.m. EST -- Additional U.S.
 combat aircraft being sent to the Persian Gulf region should arrive
 by the end of the week, the Pentagon said Tuesday. The 45 planes --
 including bombers and radar-evading stealth fighters -- would put
 about a total of about 300 Air Force and Navy warplanes and support
 aircraft within striking distance of Iraq.
      Currently, there are some 120 U.S. Air Force aircraft in the
 region, mostly in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In addition, there are
 about 70 warplanes and other aircraft on each on the two U.S.
 aircraft carriers in or approaching the region.
          F-117 fighters and B-52 bombers deployed
     On President Clinton's orders, the United States is sending six
 B-52 bombers and six F-117A stealth fighters to bases in the Gulf
 region, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon told reporters.
     The B-52s are from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and will
 be flown to Diego Garcia, a British-governed island in the Indian
 Ocean. The F-117s are stationed at Holloman Air Force Base in New
 Mexico and will be sent to Kuwait.
     In addition, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East,
 Gen. Anthony Zinni, is authorized to deploy about 30 additional air-
 craft as he sees fit.
     Last week, the Pentagon ordered F-117 stealth fighter crews and
 other aircraft to be ready to deploy should Clinton decide to add
 forces to the region.
     The new deployment are necessary because "we have a very uncer-
 tain situation," U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger told
 reporters at a White House briefing earlier in the day.
     He said Clinton's decision was based on a recommendation by U.S.
 Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Chairman of the U.S. Joint
 Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Henry Shelton.
           Iraq doesn't interfere with latest U-2 flight
     Berger said the new deployments had been under consideration for
 about a week and were not directly related to the resumption Tuesday
 of surveillance flights over Iraq.
     An American U-2 plane on assignment for the U.N. flew over Iraq
 and returned to its base in Saudi Arabia without being threatened by
 missiles or targeted by hostile radar, the Pentagon said.
     The flight was the second in eight days by a high-flying, unarmed
 U-2 over central Iraq without incident.
     But Iraq issued a statement criticizing the flight, suggesting
 that the plane took pictures of military sites in preparation for a
 military strike.
     "How does America benefit from using U-2 planes other than taking
 pictures of Iraqi weapons and sites of the Iraqi army for its aggres-
 sive purposes?" the official news agency INA said, quoting a govern-
 ment spokesman. (Nothing like telling the enemy!)
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           Shuttle not properly attached for 747 ride
                 Could have fallen off in-flight
     CAPE CANAVERAL, FL - November 18, 1997 6:53 p.m. EST - The space
 shuttle Atlantis was not properly anchored to its carrier aircraft
 for a piggyback ride across the country last week, and was at risk
 of a catastrophic fall, NASA officials said Tuesday.
   Washers were missing on the bolts that attached the shuttle to
 the Boeing 747 aircraft, which, in a worse case, could have led to
 the 100-ton orbiter breaking loose in flight.
   "It could have been very potentially serious," said Donald
 McMonagle, a senior shuttle manager at the Kennedy Space Center.
   A formal investigation into the incident led by the shuttle con-
 tractor, United Space Alliance, has begun, McMonagle said.
   "It's a joint effort between NASA and the contractor to go find
 out exactly what happened," he said.
   The $2 billion shuttle left the Florida spaceport last Tuesday,
 bound for a nine-month, $70 million refit at a Boeing Company plant
 in Palmdale, California.
   Atlantis' route took it to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma
 City, where it was held up for three days because of bad weather.
   When it arrived at Palmdale Friday, engineers discovered two
 missing washers and damage to the bolts on the shuttle's rear
 attachment points, sources at the space agency said.
   The missing washers were supposed to distribute the weight of
 the shuttle to prevent overstressing the bolts.
   Space agency sources said the shuttle "was not about to fall
 off" in spite of the damage to the bolts discovered at Palmdale.
   Atlantis' departure from Florida was delayed by trouble aligning
 its attachment points to the 747. NASA officials said it was not
 clear if those problems were related to the missing washers.
   Paperwork concerning the operation had been impounded and the
 workers involved were to be interviewed, NASA officials said. The
 inquiry was expected to focus on why the washers were missing when
 the paperwork indicated they were in place.
   NASA uses two modified Boeing 747 aircraft to ferry its four
 space shuttle orbiters piggyback-style to and from the Florida
 launch site.
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