78-05-B3

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B-1 Bomber

Transcript It has been several months since the President announced his decision to halt production of the B-1 bomber. I've found around the country there is an uneasiness about our entire defense posture, and the cancellation of the B-1 is symbolic of that uneasiness. Yet, we've been given very little information about the plane and only the administrations explanation that it was too expensive and we could easily find less costly substitutes. Perhaps we weren't told more about the B-1 because the arguments supporting its cancellation don't stand up. We are told the B-1 had a price tag of $100 million and it was vulnerable to the Soviet air defense system. Well, no one can look with pleasure on a $100 million aircraft being knocked down by anti-aircraft fire. First we should know that $100 million price tag is figured in 1986 dollars on the basis of continued inflation. The real price tag is about $65 million--still a tidy sum. It was pointed out that the air-launched cruise missile could be made for $1 million and launched by re-fitted B-52's, F-11's or even 747's from outside the Soviet perimeter. Now this is true--as far as it goes. But the 747 modified costs more than the B-1 and (with its size) is very vulnerable. The B-52 can only carry half the payload of the B-1 even though its almost twice as big and the modification required is quite expensive-especially when you consider you need two B-52's to substitute for a single B-1. The B-1 incidentally travels twice as fast as the B-52 and being so much smaller is less vulnerable because of its reduced radar image. It shows up on a radar screen about the size of a fighter plane. The F1-11 would have to be stretched and fitted with the same engines designed for the B-1. It would carry less than the B-52 . It would not be as good as the B-1---just cheaper. The B-1 was in production and already flying, a war plane so far advanced beyond anything we have that the world would be years trying to match it, yet we can't start producing cruise missiles till 1981, if then. There have been four successive failures in the tests so far. The cruise missiles are limited in range, so many Soviet targets would be out of reach. To extend the range it must be launched from planes flying at great heights which increases vulnerability to Soviet ground-to-air missiles. The B-1 is designed to go in low beneath radar, penetrating the enemy air defense system before launching the cruise missiles. If the President has learned that the Soviets have a new defense system which makes the B-1 less useful he should tell us. It won't be a surprise to the Soviets. If not, then we know the Soviets will have to spend more than the B-1's cost to develop defense against it and what's wrong with that? This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-05-B3 Production Date 04/03/1978 Book/Page RihoH-103 Audio Youtube? No
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