NEW REPORT CREDITS SOVIETS WITH LEAP IN WARHEAD COUNT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330073-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 73
• Publication Date: June 13, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302330073-4 STAT
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~ New report credits Soviets with leap
in warhead count
By Bill Gertz
THE WgSMINOTON TIMES
The White House is preparing to
release an unclassified version of a
national intelligence estimate, possi-
bly in aSenate hearin? requested for
rodav which shows a dramatic iump
in Soviet ballistic missile warhead
levels an administration de ense?
~ expert sat .
Yesterday, Sen. James McClure,
R-Idaho, requested an "urgent" joint
hearing with the Senate Armed Ser-
vices and Appropriatiois subcom-
mittee on defense to make public the
key findings of the study.
The national intelligence estimate
was the subject of a letter from Sens.
McClure, Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and
John East, R-N.C. to President Rea-
gap last week. The senators charged
that information in the estimate
shows "the evolving [U.S.-Soviet]
' military imbalance"
Sen. McClure, in a letter to Appro-
priations defense subcommittee
Chairman Tbd Stevens, R-Alaska,
said the White House National Secu-_
rity Council informed him that some
findings of the estimate are ready to
be released and asked him to request
the hearing. The letter was also sent
to Armed Services Committee
Chairman Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz.
A National Security Council
spokesman could not be reached for
comment.
"This ear's National Intelli ence
Estimate con firms Soviet military
suQremacy," Sen. McClure wrote in
t e etter.
A spokesman for Sen: Stevens said
the request had been received and
aides were attempting to? schedule a,
hearing for today.
According to the administration
expert who spoke on the condition he
remain anonymous, -one finding of
the new report shows that warhead
levels for Soviet ballistic missiles
now tota111,500 warheads.
The new figure represents an
increase in some 2,000 missile war-
heads from figures published two
months ago in the Pentagon's annual
assessment of Soviet missile war-
heads. The figures do not include
warheads delivered on strategic
bombers.
Soviet deployments of the new
SS-24 and SS-25 ICBMs account for
the increase, the official said. The
new estimate, he said, indicates that
~_ the Soviet Union has begun deploy-
. inept of approximately 200 mobile
SS-25 ICBMs and l00 large SS-24
missiles configured on railroad
track launchers.
Besides the new ICBMs, the
increase in missile warheads is also
attributed to an additional number
of warheads on the SS-18 ICBM, the
largest missile in the Soviet arsenal.
Each SS-18 was thought to carry 10
warheads, but is now estimated to
hold 14.
The Soviet deployments contrast
sharply with the U.S. missile mod-
ernization program. The original
proposal to deploy 200 MX missiles,
a counterpart to the SS-24, has been
cut to, 50 by Congress. The only
mobile U.S. missile is the single war-
head Midgetman mobile ICBM,
which is being researched.
Previous reports on the intelli-
Bence estimate said up to 20 bases
WASHINGTON TIMES
for the SS-25s were sighted by U.S.
intelligence. Each base contains
nine garage-like buildings with slid-
ing roofs. -
The bases are expected to eventu-
ally hold 10 missiles each, with one
ICBM constantly moving and the
rest in buildings, the official said.
The new estimate indicates that
18 mobile SS-25s currently are
deployed and operational, the offi-
cial said.
The new estimate will also dis-
close that the Soviets have
completed testing of the SS-24 and
have moved the missile into its
deployment phase, the official said.
Intelligence experts. for the first
time have sighted an operational
SS-24 under heav camoufla eon a
rail launc er at t e Strategic Rocket
Forces complex at Kostroma, he
said.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10 :CIA-RDP90-009658000302330073-4
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