Lockheed gets $2 billion contract
     The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. on Thursday a con-
 tract valued at more than $2 billion to build 2,400 advanced, long-
 range cruise missiles. In picking Lockheed over Boeing Co., which
 had also competed for the contract, the Air Force said Lockheed had
 a "superior proposal in just about every aspect, including cost."
     Air Force officials described the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff
 missile, which will be used on both Air Force and Navy fighter and
 bomber aircraft, as the "lethal linchpin" of their 21st century
 weaponry.
  - A blow to Boeing -
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            4 Austrians die in Mediterranean plane crash
     NICE, France - April 10, 1998 11:19 a.m. EDT - Four Austrians
 died and four others were injured when their light aircraft crashed
 in the Mediterranean off Monaco on Friday, airport authorities said.
     The Cessna 421 fell into the sea 1.8 kilometers (one mile) off
 the coast.
     The bodies of the victims have not yet been recovered.
     Airport authorities from nearby Nice said the German-registered
 plane crashed as it prepared to land at Nice on a flight from
 Austria.
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          B-2 bomber damaged, apparently by lightning
    WASHINGTON - April 10, 1998  6:48 p.m. ET - Small holes have been
 discovered in one of the Air Force's eight B-2 stealth bombers,
 damage that could cost up to $500,000 to repair, the service
 announced Friday.
     The cause of the damage was unknown, but it may have been caused
 by a lightning strike, said Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Jay
 DeFrank.
     All the service's B-2s are based with the 509th Bomb Wing at
 Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Each aircraft cost $2 billion.
     The damaged aircraft bears the name "Spirit of Missouri."
     Damage amounts to small holes in the stealth material on one of
 the wings, the spokesman said. The plane is covered with specialized
 materials that enable it to absorb or deflect radar signals and thus
 avoid detection.
     The damage occurred to the front edge of one of the wings, said
 Lt. Eric Elliott, a spokesman for the Air Combat Command at Langley,
 Va., which has responsibility for the planes.
     Elliott said the damage, which initially had been thought to
 carry up to a $2 million price tag to repair, had been found to be
 less extensive than first thought, and therefore not as expensive.
     Elliott said the plane was struck by lightning Feb. 26, but that
 no damage had been detected until the past several days. "They think
 that's when it could have occurred," the spokesman said.
     The bat-winged airplane is able to fly despite the damage, he
 said.
     A pair of B-2s recently flew to Guam in the first overseas
 deployment of the bomber, but the damaged aircraft was not one
 of them.
     DeFrank said the damage "may have been caused by a static dis-
 charge. ... We think it could be related to lightning.''
     "This is a preliminary report. They are investigating what
 really did it," the spokesman said.
     No B-2 has yet flown a combat mission. Eight are operational,
 and the Air Force plans to build 21 in all.
     The first B-2 entered service at Whiteman in December 1993.
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