Word: gap
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Administration argues that an ICBM gap of 2 to 1 in 1963, or even 3 to 1, will not mean a "deterrent gap." In 1963, explains Defense Secretary Thomas Gates, the U.S. will not be relying solely or even mainly on ICBMs for its main deterrent power. The big punch will still be the H-bombs in the bays of the Strategic Air Command's manned bombers. Backing up SAC's bombers will be a growing force of missiles, but SAC alone will provide an abundance of what the Pentagon calls "overkill." The H-bombs carried...
...backed up by the nuclear-armed fighters of the Tactical Air Command in Europe, to deter a Soviet attack on the U.S. this year. But earnest and patriotic men are haunted by doubts as to whether the U.S. can complacently rely on SAC to bridge the missile gap as it widens in 1961 and beyond, and whether the President's $41 billion defense budget for fiscal 1961 is an adequate response to the challenge of that gap. The critics do not argue that the 1961 budget fails to provide for adequate security during its own time span-July...
...second widespread worry, inside and outside the Pentagon, is the possibility that Soviet advances in air defense might largely cancel out SAC's bombers before the U.S. gets around to closing the missile gap. To assure that SAC keeps ahead of Soviet air defense progress, SAC's Power and the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Thomas D. White, want to start placing orders for North American Aviation Inc.'s B70 bomber, designed to fly at three times the speed of sound. In its money requests for fiscal 1961, the Air Force asked for $464 million...
Generals White and Power make a persuasive case for the B-70, but it would be even more persuasive if a lot of defense experts did not argue just as plausibly that it would make more sense to narrow the missile gap by speeding up development of Minuteman. If defense funds were unlimited, it would doubtless be well to push ahead with both the B70 and Minuteman-and build more B-58s, more Polaris submarines and more Atlases, make SAC more secure by dispersing its bases, and hasten modernization of Army equipment too. But every defense budget, whether it totals...
Polaris & Minuteman. The decision to bet on the future of the Polaris and Minuteman systems, and to put up with a missile gap in the meantime as a calculated risk, entails a responsibility to push Polaris and Minuteman as fast as possible in order to shorten the duration of the gap. But the 1961 defense budget provides for starts on only three Polaris submarines (nine have been authorized by Congress). And although the U.S. is depending upon Minuteman to close the missile gap in 1963-64, the Administration is doing next to nothing to assure that when Minuteman is ready...