-m T The Battalion
INation
'b
Thursday
Page 5
April 17, 1997
omber flies once more
B-2 stealth bomber
The B-2 was designed to be able to reach
deep into enemy territory and attack
heavily defended targets - and then return
safely - because it is difficult to detect in
flight. It has no vertical tail surfaces and
its skin absorbs, rather than reflects,
radar signals.
p
Length:
69 ft.
Wingspan:
172 ft.
Height:
17 ft.
Weight:
100,000-
110,000 lbs
Engines:
Four General Electric
F118 turbofans
I Source: Jane's All The World's Aircraft
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE,
Mo. (AP) —The Air Force will re
sume training missions in its B-2
stealth bombers after grounding
the planes earlier this month
when an engine shaft assembly
broke in flight.
No defects were found in other
engine shaft assemblies, but the Air
Force planned more frequent in
spections and the re-engineering of
the part to make it stronger, officials
said Tuesday.
Missions involving Whiteman
Air Force Base’s 13 bombers had
been suspended since April 8 after
one plane’s assembly—connecting
an engine to a gear box that powers
generators and hydraulic pumps —
broke in the air.
The $2 billion plane was able to
return safely using its three other
engines.
An investigation revealed that
the housing of the shaft assembly
had nearly undetectable cracks that
caused the shaft to turn in a slight
ly elliptical pattern rather than a cir
cle, the Air Force said.
“The shaft is supposed to be turn
ing at 14,000 rotations per minute,”
Whiteman spokesman Capt. Bruce
Sprecher said. “It’s supposed to go in
a perfect circle; it doesn’t take an el
lipse at that high speed.”
Missions were scheduled to re
sume Tuesday.
This month, six of the B-2s be
came part of a Pentagon’s nuclear
war plan, meaning they could be
asked to deliver nuclear weapons.
The flying-wing B-2 bomber was
designed to be able to reach deep
into enemy territory and attack
heavily defended targets. It has no
vertical tail surfaces and its skin ab
sorbs, rather than reflects, radar sig
nals, making it difficult to detect.
ities learn about terrorist weapons
Program allows local
^emergency workers to
\deal better with
-^hostile warfare.
I WASHINGTON (AP) — As the
pniversary of the Oklahoma City
XI imbing nears, the Pentagon has
igun a training program designed
help 120 cities deal with the po-
;; ntial terrorist use of chemical, bi-
; r ; ogical or even nuclear weapons.
V) Local police, firefighters, medics
M id other emergency workers will
M am to identify such deadly
A eapons, deal with victims and car-
>J [out any decontamination that
r ight be required, officials said
| ednesday at a Pentagon briefing.
Under this year’s $42.6 million
pi : ram, the military will set up a
' liulti-service “Chem-Bio Quick
^lesponse Force,” of up to 500 peo-
|Mle.Members of the force will trav-
\ |elaround the country training lo
cal officials, and the Pentagon
l^lansto set up a hot line and an In-
iecb temeisite w it;h further help. Spe-
'M'lmalizeA training also will be done
at some military installations.
The commander of the Army's
hemical Biological Defense Com-
land, Maj. Gen. George Friel, will be
i charge of the training program.
ysiO[ Ji e i j s b asec i a t Aberdeen, Md.
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., a mem-
Jrofthe House National Security
ommittee, who has pressed for
ich help for local authorities,
died the Pentagon program “a
)od step ... long overdue, but it’s
)t enough.”
"The first responder to terrorism
not the military,” Weldon said.
“It’s the 1.2 million men and
women across the country .... who
day in and day out respond to dis
asters.” He said local emergency
workers, many of them volunteers,
could be overwhelmed before fed
eral assistance could arrive.
Carl Hooker, deputy chief of the
Houston Fire Department, wel
comed the program.
“There’s no way cities can prepare
properly for some
thing like that,”
Hooker said in an in
terview. “No ques
tion about it, it will
make us more se
cure in dealing witli a
terrorist event.”
Pentagon offi
cials said the train
ing will be coordi
nated through the
Management
Agency and make
use of experts from
the FBI, the Public
Health Service, the
Environmental Protection Agency
and the Energy Department.
But since the military has had ex
pertise in dealing with chemical
weapons since World War I, the Pen
tagon will take the lead in the train
ing, officials said.
By Oct. 1, 27 cities will be as
sessed for setting up the initial pro
grams. Over the next three years,
the officials said, they hope to reach
the nation’s 120 largest cities — if
those cities want to take part.
Each city’s needs are different,
the officials noted, citing security
steps Atlanta took for the Olympics
and Washington’s preparations for
the inauguration.
Denver offered to be the pilot
city for the program, and a team
arrived there Monday to assess its
needs. By the time leaders of the
world’s top industrialized democ
racies gather there for an econom
ic summit in June, the initial train
ing work will be well on its way, the
officials said.
Besides Denver, the next eight
cities to be studied are New York;
Los Angeles; Chica
go; Washington;
Houston; Kansas
City, Kan; San Diego;
and Philadelphia.
The remaining
cities are Detroit;
Dallas; Phoenix;
San Antonio; San
Jose, Calif.; Balti
more; Indianapolis;
San Francisco;
Jacksonville, Fla.;
Columbus, Ohio;
Milwaukee; Mem
phis, Tenn.; Boston;
Seattle; Atlanta;
Honolulu; Miami;
and Anchorage, Alaska.
The FBI decided which cities
needed to be looked at," the offi
cials said, but any community can
request assistance.
Congress approved the pro
gram in last year’s defense budget,
and the Clinton administration is
seeking $48.7 million to pay for it
in fiscal 1998.
Federal law prohibits the mili
tary from participating in law-en
forcement activities, such as con
ducting arrests or doing
investigations. However, it does not
bar the military from providing
training or assistance to law en
forcement agencies.
Bill faces
opposition
AUSTIN (AP) — A central part of
a House plan to lower local school
property taxes will face opposition
in the Senate, according to a key
lawmaker.
House members cheered a spe
cial committee Wednesday after it
voted 11-0 on a bill lowering local
school property taxes by about $2.5
billion a year.
Gov. George W. Bush, who raised
the property tax issue more than a
year ago, said the bill accomplishes
his goals of cutting taxes and spread
ing the burden of school funding
more evenly across the state.
To pay for the tax cuts, the House
committee voted to expand the
state business tax to most compa
nies, increase some other taxes, in
cluding those on cigarettes, and add
about 30 goods and services to the
list of those subject to state sales
taxes. It also would use $1 billion in
additional state funds and proceeds
from the lottery for schools.
Another provision of the bill
would replace local school taxes on
business property with a state busi
ness property tax.
The legal limit on that tax rate,
now $1.50 per $100 in property val
ue, would be lowered to $1.05 per
$100 for school operation and
maintenance.
Residential property still would
be taxed locally for maintenance
and operation and local school dis
tricts could tax business and resi
dential property up to 50 cents per
$100 to pay off debt. '
Armbrister, D-Victoria, is chair
man of a special Senate committee
that would consider the plan if the full
House approved it. He called a state
business property tax a problem.
“It’s not the rate, it's not the
amount, it’s where you take all of a
district’s commercial property and
... pool the levy off of that commer
cial property into Austin to be re
distributed out to a statewide basis.
School districts don’t like losing
that,” he said.
Rep. Paul Sadler, D-Henderson,
chairman of the House committee,
said the state business property tax
is a key part of the bill because it
gets rid of the so-called Robin Hood
school funding system.
“You can’t cut property taxes
without getting rid of Robin Hood,”
Sadler said.
The provision is being opposed by
some business and school gr oups.
Business opponents say separat
ing business and residential prop
erty could make it easier to raise
business property taxes in the fu
ture. Schools argue that the state
will take more of their business tax
revenue than it will give back.
“They aren’t losing anything,”
Sadler said of the schools.
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