Word: radars
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Stealth bomber is designed to be virtually undetectable by enemy radar, but never in history was an aircraft's first flight more visible. Before scores of television cameras and thousands of spectators, the bat- shaped flying wing lifted into the sunrise at Palmdale, Calif., last week for a 106-minute, slow-speed, wheels-down flight...
...even at the moment of its apparent success, the technologically revolutionary bomber faced a threat to its existence, not from hostile radar and missiles but from a newly skeptical Congress that has become increasingly alarmed over the plane's horrendous cost. By the Air Force's own calculations, each of the 132 B-2s it wants will cost more than $530 million, a total of $70.2 billion over the next decade. Already $23 billion has been spent on research and development. How, Congressmen wonder, can the most expensive weapons system ever built be reconciled with a shrinking defense budget...
...basic question: Is the B-2 capable of attacking targets in the Soviet Union without being detected? The initial flight proved only that the boomerang-shaped delta wing can fly. It remains to be seen whether the sleek aerodynamic design, composite-plastics fabrication and other tricks intended to evade radar will actually work...
...question is why the Coast Guard did not monitor the Valdez after it veered outside normal shipping lanes. Following the last radio transmission by Hazelwood, the Coast Guard did not communicate with the Valdez until after the grounding, nearly an hour later. Nor did it track the tanker by radar. The Coast Guard has cited possible weather conditions, poor equipment and the change-of-shift preoccupations of a watchman to explain why the ship was not picked up on radar. More important, although seamen insist they rely heavily on Coast Guard monitoring in the entire sound, Coast Guard officials maintain...
Once the Valdez had run aground, however, the Coast Guard says it had no trouble spotting the stricken tanker on radar because it presented a wider profile and was standing higher in water. Many mariners dismiss the Coast Guard's explanation. "That's a ridiculous contention because any way you turn this vessel, it's as big as a building," says Michael Chalos, a maritime attorney who represents Hazelwood. "She has a beam of 166 ft. and a height from the waterline of about 75 ft. when fully loaded. The Coast Guard is trying to cover up for the fact...