American Notes AIR FORCE

After a B-1B bomber crashed in September on a simulated bombing run over Colorado, killing three of its six crewmen, there were fears that the plane, at a total program cost of $27 billion, could not perform its core mission of low-level attack. Designed to foil enemy radar by sweeping across terrain from as low as 200 feet above ground, the B-1B had crashed, said investigators, after colliding with a flock of large birds.

Last week it was disclosed that the Air Force has suspended low-level testing of the B-1B. The Strategic Air Command has restricted the 72 operational bombers to altitudes of several thousand feet until the crash investigation is complete and safety changes are made on the troubled, and vulnerable, plane.