CASPER
THE FRIENDLY GHOST
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has deferred a decision on whether to go ahead with a 23 billion dollar deal to lease and buy 100 aerial refueling aircraft from Boeing until further studies are completed in November, the Pentagon said Tuesday. Rumsfeld acted after a Defense Science Board study concluded that there was "no material or financial reason" to begin a program to replace the air force's KC-135 tankers before an analysis of alternatives and a study of air mobility capabilities are completed, a senior official said. "He's going to have both of those studies accelerated," he said. They are to be completed by November, a second official said.