ANTIMISSILE NET AT SEA PROPOSED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000300100045-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 10, 2006
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: July 4, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

ANTIMISSILE- NET
AT SEA PROPOSED
Ship-Based Defense System
That Would Bolster Nike-X
Pressed by the Navy
By WILLIAM BEECHER
special to The New York Times
tI WASHINGTON, July 3-The
Navy, with the encouragement
of Defense and Army officials,
is pressing studies of an anti-
IIlmissile missile system based on:
large submarines and warships.
Such a system, it is said,;
could increase the protection of
the United States by stationing)
water-borne antimissile plat-
1 forms in international waters{
- off Communist China and the!
tlSoviet Union to get an early
f chance to intercept long-range
missiles fired from those coun
retries.
I And, in a crisis situation in-
/ volving friendly nations such as
Japan, proponents say, an anti-
,Imissile fleet could be placed in
'position between that nation
and a potential aggressor to re-
'duce or even eliminate the
'(threat of nuclear 12jacliinail.
Defense officials say the pro-
Approved For Release 2006/ 30:CIA-RDP70B00338R000300100045-5
ANTIMISSILE NET devices, multiple warheads and thinking of using either the
(maneuvering warheads, offi- present Polaris missile booster
1 SABMIS 'f de- booster for SABMIS
- i or a new
PRESSED BY NAVY
Continued From Page 1, Col. 5
posed Navy system would not
compete with the Army's Nike-
X missile, defense, A decision is
expected this fall on whether to
start deployment of a $4-billion
to $5-billion Nicke-X system
around the United States to
provide a "thin" defense of the
entire country against a Chi-
nese-type threat, as well as
tight defense around Minute-
man silos.
The Navy system, code-
named SABMIS for Seaborne
Anti-Ballistic Missile Intercept
System, would make Nike's job
more manageable by. knocking
down large numbers of enemy
intercontinental ballistic mis-
siles well before they reached
airspace over the United States.
And, in the event that the
Russians and later the Chinese
introduce very sophisticated
ICBM's that employ penetration
cla s say,
ployed far enough forward - but the Defense Department
could intercept some of these urged the Navy to make use
missiles before they have a of the Army-developed Spar-
chance to make use of such ad- tan and Sprint missiles.
vanced devices. Now, Navy officials say
Pentagon officials say the they contemplate making use
Navy system could be deployed of Nike-X technology instead
in special submarines under the of undertaking on entirely new
North Polar icecap, in surface development program. The
and subsurface fleets off the Army has already spent more
Aleutian Islands,, and in several than $2-billion developing the
other locations even closer to Nike system.
enemy territory. They say that Use on Ships Possible
limited de
h
h
-
ave un
ips
such s
ployment possibilities so long
as they stay in international
waters.
Last month, when the Navy
advised industry that it was
about to put out some prelim-
inary design studies for the new
system, 31 companies rushed in
an expressed interest in partic-
ipating.
From the list the Navy se-
lected six companies- ughes
Aircraft, Martin-MariettHa; Boe-
ing, Aeroject-General, McDon-
nell-Douglas an dRaytheon-to
compete for a six-month study
fan could be drawn on a globe
with the apex at the point of
ICBM launching. The fan would
spread out across the globe to
the extreme range of the mis-
sile. The closer the missile
defense to the point of launch-
ing, the smaller the section of
the "threat fan" to be defended,
he noted.
An antimissile fleet position
off the Aleutians, he said, would
be athwart the path of missiles
aimed at the western half of the
United States.
A high ranking Army Nike-X
specialist was just as enthusias-
tic. He commented:
"The Navy system is both
"We feel that anything that
has been. developed for land
basing may also be based on
ships," a Navy planner said.
He said it was hoped that
the industry studies would
come up with the best combi-
nation of submarine and ship
platforms to insure survival
against a surprise attack, as
well as effective interception
of enemy ICBM's.
There would always have to
be some surface ships in any
deployment, he said, in order to
get good radar coverage of the
l_- Initially, o the Navy wasp The Navy planner said that ati terminal phase defenses.
feasible and attractive. It could),
intercept enemy ICBM's before'
they can deploy most of their
penetration aids; it would re-
duce the number of missiles
Nike-X would have to contend
with; and it would tremendous-
ly increase the enemy's techno-
logical problems by forcing him
to become very sophisticated in-
deed if he wants to stand and
chance of getting his ICBM':
past both the mid-course an(
Approved For Release 2006/01/30 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300100045-5