THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, September 13, 1994            TAG: 9409130381
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Short :   26 lines

GAO: STEALTH'S COSTS COULD SURPASS CAP

A congressional report questions whether the Pentagon can buy 20 B-2 Stealth bombers within a government-imposed $44 billion cost ceiling.

The report by the General Accounting Office cited problems in the radar-evading technology of the bat-winged airplane, its own terrain-avoidance radar and its computer software, as well as testing delays. These threaten to raise production costs for the 20 jets ordered by the Pentagon, the report said.

Dated Sept. 8, the report has not yet been released. Defense Week, a newspaper that covers defense issues, reported the findings of the GAO - an investigative arm of Congress - Monday.

KEYWORDS: STEALTH BOMBER by CNB