
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990                   TAG: 9007280256
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

NUCLEAR ATTACK DEFENSE PLANE OPERATION CUT

The Bush administration this week ended 29 years of continuous flights by Air Force doomsday planes equipped to direct a nuclear war after any Soviet attack on the United States, the Pentagon said Friday, as a concession to the budget squeeze and the superpower thaw.

The operation will be replaced by occasional flights, the Pentagon said. The decision was approved by President Bush late last month after a discussion with his senior advisers, a White House official said. It was conveyed June 29 to the Strategic Air Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha by Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

- Associated Press

by CNB