American Notes Weapons

Until the gulf war, the Pentagon was under incessant attack for spending far too much on items that were all too flawed. Desert Storm quieted the critics, but now the pendulum is swinging back again. Air Force officials have confirmed the discovery of tiny fissures in the wing carry-through bulkheads on a number of its 1,875 F-16s ($13.7 million apiece), many of which will have to be modified or prematurely mothballed. They have also found breaks in 37 of their 97 high-tech B-1 bombers, adding to the troubles of the controversial and expensive ($300 million apiece) craft.

Meanwhile, workers have found brittleness and cracks in most of the welds of the Navy's futuristic SSN-21 Seawolf-class submarine, the first of which is under construction in Groton, Conn. The responsibility seems to belong to the Navy, which set standards for welding a new high-tensile steel that apparently permitted too much carbon in the welding rod. Though the hull was 15% completed when the problem was detected, builders may have to start from scratch using new steel. There are serious doubts whether the $2.5 billion sub-killing craft will ever go to sea.