SOVIET INCREASES BUILD-UP OF MISSILES AND DEPLOYS A DEFENSIVE SYSTEM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000300080027-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2006
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: November 13, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2006/11/13: CIA-RDP70BOO338R
THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1%6.
By WILLIAM BEECH ER (propellant rather than a solidlif they are assaulted first bylwant to initiate anothe
- -- uteman 1, it is believed to uuasn America into a nuelearlUnited States can p;
in addition to deploying a mis- wteland. But if both sides
l.:ile defense around the Soviet carry a one megaton warhead, clearly have such a capability, turn out missiles faste
Minion, the Russians are mark-IA megaton is equivalent to the neither is likel
the Russians
initi
t
t
y
-.
o
a
e nu
,'clly increasing the pace of their energy produced by a million clear war, the argument goes. But with the prolifera
il
nu
dup of offensive missiles. tons of TNT. Up to this point in the ar?'u- missiles in both countric
Defense Secretary Robert S The other is a much l
arger meat the optimitdi
.,ss an pess-
McNamara chose to lift the se- three-stage liquid-fueled system mists tend t withstanding all kinds
a
ree Di
g
o
vergence
, 1curity lid a crack when he an. roughly comparable to Amer- of views comes when they probably lookilorobabl , the
increase chances
flounced at the LBJ Ranch in ica's Tita
for a
II
i
l
.
n
m
ssi
e But it t th ft
.oeuure. Texas Thursday that the So- may carry an even bigger war- If the Russians continue toletof or unauthorized 1
of a few missiles by
Iviet Union was constructing, head, ranging from 30 to 60 turn out more n,, A
not disclose the even morel V m pessnnists say, tney! It is Partly with this in
Trained on Targets ay pull abreast of and even'-the possibility of aeci
si-artling intelligence on strate-. overtake fl Unit a Y
.Oviet Increase s Build-U of 1`M M 8 L J
For several years the 1?us- suggesting that the Russians L- wluLK tney At the LBJ Ranch last 1-1 scans pave been adding only possessed about 300 ICBM's in could destroy cough of Amer-la reporter asked Mr.
been sources
increased, reliable
1say, to roughly 100 or more a
1 year over the last two years.
somewhere between 400 and meant
nuclear arsenal. This rate ha,-, somewhere
One reason for the dis- s lelei,atory missiles, "that the Russian
particularly the Polaris mis- have the capability to
.
c;I- ...;~,.
rerary aeclared. "There
The Administration has
This combination of Increased
11tleployment of offensive and do-
Missile systems is rais-
ing considerable concern, though
not alarm, in high
Administra-
tiil
on crces.
Informed officials do not be-
lieve that Russia's burst of ac-
tivity currently endangers the
security of the United States.
A few, in fact, suggest that
the nature of the system now
(showing up underscores the de-
Ifense-mincledness of the Soviet
1c,clership and could herald a
~petiod of greater stability be-
tw een the two nuclear super-
parity may be an understand-
able difference of opinion to
when Russian missiles become
Isere aurense. silos but we do not?"
Secret Devices Set "Certainly not . th
powers.
But other equally well In-
fornied strategists, inq:luding
both military and civilian offi-
cials, privately ? express appre-
hension that, should the ICBM
buildup continue for very long
tit its present pace, the uneasy
balance of power between the
two nations could be upset.
The worriers are not unmind-
ful of the missile gap. cbn-
Iroversy in the late 1950's when
some officials forecast a Soviet
missile buildup oil the basis of
wliat Russia was capab,e of
turning out; but during that
period the Soviet Union de-
Icidcrl not to go into mass pro-
Iduction, while the United States
went into a crash program, and
the resulting missile gap
!strongly favored the American
l forces.
1 Wide Deployment -Seen
This time, however, some Of-
note, the Russians are
producing and deploying large
numbers of advanced missiles
and are both dispersing them
widely over the Soviet Union
and hardening them against
possible attack.
Two kinds of these advanced,
ecolid-generation missiles, are
pparently involved. One Is a
:angle-stage small missile .simi-
lar to the early models of the
Minuteman except that it is
Dowered by a storeable liquid
he counted.
In addition, the Russians are
believed to have about 120 to
150 submarine-launched mis-
siles and about 750 medium
and intermediate range mis-
siles, the latter being trained
on targets in Western Europe.
By comparison, the United
States has a comfortable lead
in numbers. Already, deployed
are 800 Minutemen I Sihissiles
and 130 improved Minuteman
II missiles, with 70 more Min-
utemen scheduled to be de-
ployed to achieve a total force
of 1,000. There are also 54 of
the larger Titan II's. So far, 38
of 41 Polaris submarines have
been put into service; each
carries 16 Polaris missiles. Po-
laris missiles are believed, to
carry a warhead slightly under
one megaton in yield.
But comparative statistics
do not tell the whole story.
Much depends on the kinds of
missiles each side has and
their respective capabilities
against ' different types of
targets.-
Second-strike Force
For example, officials say
that the bulk of the new mis-
siles being deployed by the Rus-
sians are small and not very
accurate, and thus best able to
attack "soft". targets, like
cities rather than "hardened"
missile launching sites.
In a situation where United
States missile forces could ab-
sorb a first strike and still de-
stroy most of Russia's cities in
retaliation, some strategists
point out, Soviet leaders are
not about to build up a big
force to kill American cities in
an all-out surprise attack be-
cause this would virtually guar-
Russians.
.Rather, these men insist, the
missiles to be used against
cities are probably meant to
provide the Russians with their
own second-strike force so that
danger. Over the last five yearsl i ryNL114y Vl iJC11CWdtn,l
"
h
got
it has spent well, above $1-bit-lmissiles and aiirc:w t
.
cret Penetration n devices d V` dee- xn .erception Capability
vices designed to jani or fool But while this may have an-I::
an enemy missile defense soiswered part of the question itk
that attacking missiles can get?failed to answer it fully. once'
J
through to their targets. the Soviet missile defense beer l:'
Many of these devices can comes operational, the Russians i
be fitted onto existing land- doubtless will have the capa- t
based and sea-based missiles. bilits of intercepting some 1,, 1
And Mr. McNamara announced American missiles, while they
Thursday the likelihood that United States has no defense)
the Administration would ask whatever against enemy mis I?
Congress next year for money siles, other than on blueprints
for the replacement of Polaris in the past, Mr. McNamara
missiles with Poseidon missiles, has opposed a full-scale deploy-1
which can carry twice as much meat of the Nike X system,
payload and therefore much which would cost more than
more penetration equipment. $20-billion, because of studies
Beyond that, the Administra. that show the Russians could i
tion is studying the possibility still penetrate enough missiles;
,of building a new generation of in an all-out attack to kill tens
much larger land-based missiles, of millions of Americans.
called ICM for increased capa- He has considered more in-
bility missile. This, too, would teresting a proposal to deploy a
possess enough thrust to carry lighter version of Nike X, with
a vastly larger payload of pene- a cost of from $3-billion to $a
tration aids and advanced types billion, to guard against the
l$
of warheads. smaller, less sophisticated
Earlier this month the Pen-,threat the Chinese Communists
tagon commissioned the Insti- will he able to mount in the
tute for Defense Analysts to future. Early deployment, he
conduct a special nine-month told Congress this year, .might I?
study of the ICM and various even force the Chinese to re-!;
basing concepts for it. The consider their plans to build a-e
study group will be headed by expensive ICBM arsenal.
Fred A. Payne, a Highly regard-I But since the Chinese are not l
ed former Pentagon research! expected to have many ICBM's11
specialist currently on leave 'until about 1975, and since Nikeii
from his job with the Mar-1X could be deployed in about);
quardt Corporation. (six or seven years, Mr. Mc-
New Bomber Proposed Namara tends to 'believe that):
And as one fin icd?e
al ]
against the possible effective-
ness of a Soviet antimissile de-
fense, Mr. McNamara is report.
ed to be looking with more in-
terest than heretofore at an Air
against that threat in a couple
of years, according to sortie of-
ficials.
Force proposal to build a futur-(have been unanimously urging?
istic bomber. Such a bomber ldeployment of Nike X for some,'
would carry large numbers of ime, The final decision, of
air-to-ground missiles designed1course, will be made by thee,
the bomber to its targets. V
Finally, If the Russians do
there is still time to deploy j
.resident.
Some Pentagon officials nowt:
talk about the prospect of a=
showdot' Congress fully aware of the details of the
ategic .4 ?steriis. During demand a full debate on the
senhower, - If4nnedy and l issues.
n Administrations, Con-t Senator Henry M. Jackson,
as been much more an-whose position as chairman of
to sped coney on the Military Applications sub-
than thane House, committee of the Joint Com-
te the 'ht'n;riense drain mittee on Atomic Ene
rgy
ds to thgVi_etnam war, makes him privy to some of tee
e ay . apppropriati.ig cent Senate speech.
$12-mill on More than "We can no conger be as-
dministr
WA, had re-Isured that we own a command-
tea with e r strafe ;icyweapons," he declared,f"and we
.~e ....o~s.w 4 o + es mo e ~, eapons capability.? .- ._.
Approved For Release 2006/11/13: CIA-RDP70B00338R000300080027-8