Stealth Bomber Costs Revealed: $36.6 Billion

WASHINGTON —  Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, going public with heretofore secret cost information on the radar-eluding stealth bomber program, told Congress today that each of the new planes will cost $277 million--only about $12 million more than the B-1 bombers now in production.

Weinberger, in a one-page fact sheet intended to protect the stealth plan from budget cuts, said the new bomber carries a total program cost of $36.6 billion in fiscal 1981 dollars. That is the estimate for buying 132 of the new planes, which have been described as almost impervious to radar detection.

The B-1 program, under which 100 planes are being purchased, carries an estimated price tag of $26.5 billion, Weinberger said.

“Thus the estimated average cost per B-1B is $265 million, and the cost of the far more capable advanced technology bomber (stealth) is $277 million for each aircraft,” the defense secretary said.

“The ATB program is on schedule; the technology is well understood and working, and we expect the system to be operational in the early 1990s. In terms of mission capability, the ATB’s unique low-observable characteristics make it far more survivable than the B-1B.

“This superior survivability, combined with the ATB’s payload and range, substantially increases its military effectiveness over that of the B-1B,” he said.

The information released by Weinberger had been provided by the Pentagon to top congressional leaders earlier this year on a classified basis, meaning it could not be used in public debate.

Congress has to decide this year whether to give its full support to the secret stealth program or to buy more conventional B-1s, about which there is copious information.

Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, complained in April that Weinberger’s devotion to secrecy was preventing an informed debate about the merits of stealth and jeopardizing the plane’s future.

The stealth bomber is under attack on Capitol Hill as an unproven technology that should not be pursued at the expense of the B-1.