News In Brief

B1-B bomber, key project of Reagan's, is unveiled

Some 1,500 dignitaries arrived Tuesday for the unveiling of the nation's first B1-B strategic bomber, a hallmark of President Reagan's military program, six days after a prototype of the controversial plane crashed in the Mojave Desert.

Mr. Reagan intends that the government buy 100 B-1Bs at a projected cost of $ 28.3 billion, but Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale has said he would scuttle the program, as President Jimmy Carter did in mid-1977 when Mr. Mondale was vice-president. Reagan revived the program after his election.