DATE: Thursday, April 10, 1997              TAG: 9704100355

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Update 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   44 lines

GLITCH GROUNDS STEALTH BOMBER A SECOND TIME POLICE FAULT OWN RIOT REACTION

Training missions have been halted for the B-2 stealth bomber, just a week after the Air Force planes got the go-ahead to fly nuclear and conventional combat missions.

Flights were stopped after a shaft assembly in one of the planes broke while it was in flight. The plane was able to return safely to base, using the power of its three other engines, said an Air Force official.

In layman's terms, the shaft assembly connects the engine to a gear box that powers the aircraft's generators and hydraulic pumps.

Thirteen bombers, each with a price tag of $2 billion-plus, are based at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.

In a statement, the Air Force said the commander of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman ``has placed the wing's B-2s under a precautionary stand-down of routine training missions.''

Air Force engineers were working with the aircraft's prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, and a subcontractor to solve the problem, the statement said. The halt will continue until all aircraft have been inspected and cleared, it said.

Two B-2s that are still undergoing testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California have been inspected and given the go-ahead to resume test flights.

Last May, the Air Force suspended B-2 test flights after discovering a cracked part during an inspection. Officials said the cracked part - a clamp that connects the exhaust duct to the engine - was not a safety hazard but had to be fixed.

On the first of this month, six of the B-2s became part of the Pentagon's ``nuclear war plan,'' meaning they could be detailed to fly missions to deliver nuclear weapons.

The flying-wing B-2 bomber was designed to be able to reach deep into enemy territory to attack heavily defended targets because it is difficult to detect in flight. It has no vertical tail surfaces and its skin absorbs, rather than reflects, radar signals.

The B-2's first flight was in July 1989, and the first bomber entered service at Whiteman in December 1993. In all, the Air Force expects to have 21 of the aircraft in its fleet by early in the next decade.

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