Word: midgetman
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Dates: during 1983-1983
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LATELY, the single warhead Midgetman has come to the fore of strategic thought as a panacea in the land based missile dilemma. Small and mobile, it could not be struck and disarmed in one blow, however, its cost would be great and it could not be deployed until until the year 2000. Using the Midgetman philosophy, but applying it now, why not scrap all land based ICBMs and develop a system of only small potent cruise missiles...
Should a nuclear crisis over occur, the object would be to restore deterrence as quickly as possible before escalation. In the event of an attack on the U.S., rapid response ICBMs (Minuteman, MX. Midgetman) force the Soviets into a "use or lose" situation. Instead of forcing the Politburo into a 30-minute decision, the best method of retaliation might come from the very slow cruise missile which takes 4-12 hours to strike. In the meantime, communication and hopefully negotiation for restoring order could get underway. "We have sustained your attack and we have retaliated in the hope that...
...nebulous nature of the initiative should also cause Americans grave concern. Five-sixths of the projected land-based mix depends on Midgetman, a small missile proposed by the special Scowcroft Commission essentially to mitigate problems with the MX. However, the Midgetman has yet to be designed, and Congress and President Reagan have yet to move on it. It would seem unwise to summarily dismantle existing deterrent systems before equally effective replacements are assured. Also, verification of Soviet compliance with any "build-down" scheme would be extremely difficult. Finally, "build-down" has become an instant symbol of so-called bipartisan cooperation...
...group of House Democrats led by Aspin, Albert Gore of Tennessee and Norman Dicks of Washington was urging that the U.S. shift away from large, MIRVed missiles and instead deploy mobile ones with single warheads, like the proposed Midgetman. This had been recommended by Reagan's bipartisan panel on nuclear strategy chaired by Lieut. General Brent Scowcroft, which had nevertheless favored emplacing a limited number of MX missiles while the Midgetman was being developed...
...have about 16,000 SWS's. To help it get down to 8,500 SWS's by 1996, the U.S. could replace its current 1,045 land-based missiles (2,565 SWS's) with 100 MX missiles (1,000 SWS's) and 500 single-warhead Midgetman missiles (another 500 SWS's). The Soviets could, if they wanted, keep 300 of their SS-18 missiles (6,150 SWS's) and fill the remainder of their quota with bombers and sea-launched missiles. But the goal is to penalize retention of such large weapons and move...