U.S. REPORTS FAILURE IN RECENT SOVIET TEST OF BIG NEW MISSILE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302430015-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: April 15, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST A T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302430015-7
ARTICLE AEq NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE. ~ L.. 15 April 1986
U.S. Reports Failure
In RecentSoviet Test
Of Big New Missile
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Specialto The New York Times
WASHINGTON, April 14 - United
States Government experts said today
that the Soviet Union had recently
tested its largest new land-based mis-
sile, but that the test had apparently
ended in failure and that there were in-
dications the missile might have ex-
ploded.
The missile a successor to the SS-18,
1ti;d not been previous Y i? t-tested,
acco to officials familiar with in-
te gene reports, a ailure, earlier
this month, is thought to have occurred
during the first flight test.
The new weapon is a liquid-fueled
missile, like the SS-18, and is part of a
program to replace old missiles with
new systems by the mid-1990's. The
Pentagon has said that the new missile
will be deployed in existing silos
through the end of the century.
One American official said the mis-
sile had emerged from its silo during
the test, malfunctioned and never left
the test flight area. Other officials said
that there had been an explosion and
that some of the test facilities had been
damaged.
It was not a resounding success,"
an official said. He added that he as-
sumed the Soviet Union would resolve
the engineering problems.
The SS-18, which was first deployed
in 1982, is generally deemed to be the
most accurate Soviet missile and the
one that poses the greatest threat to
United States missile silos. The Soviet
Union has 308 of the missiles, which
carry 10 warheads, according to the In-
ternational Institute for Strategic Stud-
ies.
The Central Intelligence Agency and
the De ense Intelligence Agency is-
agree whether another Soviet missile,
the SS-19, also deployed in 1982, is suffi-
cientl accurate to threaten United
tates silos in a first strike. The SS-24
missile is also considered by intelli-
gence experts to less accurate than
e an to lack t 7e combination of
accrirac an ex osive wer to
present a irst-strike threat.
The 1979 treaty on strategic arms
limitation, which has not been ratified
but which both sides have said they
would observe, contains provisions in-
tended to block the development of new
heavy missiles that differ significantly
from the SS-18. But under the treaty,
the Soviet Union is allowed to develop
and deploy a modernized version of the
SS-18.
Because the new missile has not been
flight-tested, the United States has no
basis to judge whether the system is in-
deed a permissible variation of the SS-
18. The United States has said that the
new version of the SS-18 is part of a
large effort to modernize the Soviet ar-
senal.
In addition to the successor to the SS:
18. the Soviet Union is expected to
flight-test two other land-based mis-
siles over the ne our years, actor -
igg fie Intelligence Agency
stimon in Congress. ie other mis-
siles are expected to new versions of
the SS-24, which the Soviet Union may
deploy this year on rail cars and which
may also be deployed in silos, and the
SS-25, a mobile missile that is already
being deployed.
The Pentagon has said that the
Soviet Union is also flight-testing a
multiple-warhead submarine-launched
missile, the SS-N-23, as a replacement
for the SS-N-18, which is deployed on
submarines designated in the West as
the Delta class.
In addition, the Pentagon has said
that the Soviet Union will soon begin
flight tests of a new version of the SS-
N-20, which is deployed on Typhoon-
class submarines.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000302430015-7