PENTAGON SAYS THE SOVIET MAY HAVE 2 NEW ICBM'S

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300340104-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 8, 2001
• Sequence Number: 104
• Publication Date: May 27, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

NEW. .YORIC TinES
Approved For Release 2001/03/047. C1A-RDP80-01601
7. ---..- ...- , . ----- - - .---7----------7.7---7-------7----7---- - ? ? -1 Officials now note that from
,,!. r _ (I : , :2 , .0 !reconnaissance satellite alti-
? fi . eli '(. Pe 0 0 ,9 q-7 j,f.,1:0,Z; r irfie . )O 0 .`7 (7-' fr, i tildes of roughly 100 miles, it
? , ...- i?_r? 4.,
I was difficult at first to discern
. ? 11 T.f, 7.,,,, tir , c.,..; 7.\,, r ? , 1,,,/-7.-7, ,,,,? 6, r,..!slight chLut,1COS between
' ' ? the dV'e,--. ?
1,Vii 01? i 'il of 0,2 4 j 1 6 z,zio t. ',?,,,. k2),1,./1: 0:the two 1...pes of excavations.
1
--I he insertion of concrete mis-
. .._ i Sile liners, however, made clear,
. . . .
..
they said that two types of
-By WILLIAM LT,EQ;ER . .
.. Silos were involved.
. :. - ? Spoc:al to 1:1,! Nc 7.- Yirk Ti:1123 .. . ,-". ! . /Jut officials concede that :if
' WASHINGTON, May 26-----De-, agreement between the tWo. the majority of the new silos
lease Department officials said On the public record, ,Ierry are designed for smaller SS-II
to' dav that the 60 new missileY. Frienelm, Deputy Assist'. type missiles, this would be
Silos' detected in 1.1v.s. Soviet! pa. I. 1 btl. S e CArCilj.1.1 ,Yv ? .
of . act.De.fe
i for consIder' ed a lot less menacing
i
. 4-? , , , s I IS II 0 vi
lilt i 011 recently might be in.iag- reed throughout thc,, Govern.
tended for two new types ofi:ment that the new silos are
intercontinental missiles ratheriof two sizes, but that the larg-
than one, as suggested earlier,: est Soviet missile, the SS.9,
could fit into either one.
But a Pentagon official con-
r Other sources explained that
Ceded that there was still su.f- the idea of two different ha-
ficient uncertainty about tins proved or all-new missiles
' .that a quite different assessment arose in large part from the ri.u.
.advanced yesterday could not fact that Russia was rapidly. . If equipped with such ktrge
be excluded.This' assessmut,rebuilding launching silos for multiple warheads with lac-
both the large SS-9 and the . ? - ..-.- ?-. - ro?-.Thin,-, a cultter.
, was that the Russians, rather ii SS -1 . . culacius ....pp. .? 1 ,
than if all were used for very
large missiles of the 53-9 type.
? ? The SS-9, they explain, car-
ries a nuclear warhead of 25
megatons and could carry
three warheads of five mega-
tons each, or six of two meg-
atons each. A megaton is
equivalent to a million tons of
? ?
than seeking, I sma er SS-11 missile at the of a nine, analysts say, the
to clePloY new ; Ty uratam missile test . , ?...
SS-9 '
types of weapons, were actual- near the Aral Sea. missile is considered a po-
? t
ly fashioning larger silos rein.: The two types of rebuilt silos threa to destroy
os i the
nutemen
forced with concrete and other' at the test 'center, they say 1,000 American M
, missiles in a first: strike.
..0s,,,a.ppear to conform precisely to
featur?es to increase the su t.lip new spos being constructed 'Fite, Soviet Union is said to
ability ?to - 1\.-ithstand nuclear
. ,at operational SS-9 and SS-11 have just under 300 of the 53-9
attack.. . ? - -. imissile complexes in the Ural missiles' - '
The, 55-11, by way of con-
reacting to reports by Senate , The :Pentagon officials were 'Mountains. trast, carries a single warhead
Qualified smirces explained . of roughly one megaton, offi-
, Republican sources yes!
te.. "
.,...? that when the holes fii.st
Last Demi,. cials note, and is not considered
").: newstarted appearing
that the Central Intake-, ?
bullce her, they were measured at ,as much of a threat to the Min-
1Kgency had concluded thatbeing,:
; slightly under 30 feet in uteman. It could not carry warheads, tves'r3.
r
two-thirds of. the large new silo diameter, somewhat larger than. large multiple
hey
boles were intended for the holes for the SS-9 silo. conclude. The Russians report-
"It was not a question of the ecilY has 'a ali"t 800 SS-I Vs'
relatively small SS-11 intercon- this ?. spring, . 1 a?on rmc otnCr When asked about the new
stinental missile and not for a officials speculated that these silos at arms control talks in
large new weapon, as the Do- new silos might be for "hard_ Vienna recently, Soviet officials
i
lease Department had reportedly told American offi-
previously. suggested cried" or reinforced silos, an . ? mproved ?SS-9 or . an entirely telials not to woiry, saying the
i
i
' - . new missile, Pentagon officials ..'"?s merelyrepresented a
," While this latest suggestion :stressed the latter two possi_, "modernization" program simi-
,about the new silos left a nuns- bilities in most public and pd. lar to the United States mod-
ber of questions unanswered vote statements. ei.nization of the Minuteman-3.
., ,
Officials in various Government The
Some Holes Are Larger - Tho United States for about
, . . a. year as been replacing early
agencies insisted that this five new of the six boles SS-9 coappearedat i fi
mplexes; model Mi1ute515n-1 missiles
;seeming confusion accurately and at several 55.11 complexes.' with the Minuteman-3, carrying
'reflected the 'Wide areas of un- Within recent weeks, it wasltwo or three warheads of about
? certainty that exist within the discovered that some of the 160 kilotons each. A kiloton is
intelligence community.
holes, at both types of corn-
' .. , plexes, were two or three feet
,' The Central .Intelligence Ag- narrower than the otersh.
ency declined to comment on Then, more recently, intelli-
reports that it differed with g,enteerceports showed that con-
the Pentagon's ,interpretation, fl c liners, placed inside these
w.es left inner cores of two
? ;but officials at the Defense De- differerst s'
equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT.
One hundred silos have been
equipped with ithe. Minuteman-3,
in a program calling for 550
such missiles. .
In the course of rebuilding
the old Minuteman silos,the
,., Jheci cience, United States has been addling
ipartment and other agencies between the ! two, ,
sources . say, 1 more concrete and improved
said there?.waS no basic dis,' is foci' feet. . .
s
. . uspension systems to increase,
.
- . -
T f'
Tile .)S-9 .has a diameter-y of r '
: b a factor of three, the abil-
? about 10 feet, small enough toit
1 -
! v of the new missiles, to with-
fit into either .of the two silo standI a nearby. hit.
types, officials say. The' SS-11
has a diameter of roughly 6
feet.. _ .. _ .. ... ..,.
STATI NTL
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STATINTL
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SAN DIEGO,
TRIBUNto 2 7 197-1
E 3.21,726
ISS ,Stockpiles used
_
Meanwhile in Mittenwald,
Germany, Defense Secretary.
Melvin R. Laird said Russia
S1 OS Hge
and the United States are:
.adding to their nuclear mis-
.
sile stockpiles despite an
agreement to talk about Ern-
buk?
1? g - . ?
itincr them.
Ell) q?,,,O, MIL If Both superpOwers are,
maintaining conventional
ground troops . at present
EVENING TRIBUNE: News Report gro
strength in central Europe,
WASHINGTON -- The new although 1Vioscow now has in-
missile silos under construe- (Heated an interest in dis-
tion in the Soviet Union may
cussing mutual and balanced
be for two separate missile reductions of these forces.
systems, a Defense Depart- Diplomats from North At-
ment spokesman said yester-. lantic Treaty Organization
day. ? (N TO) countries will under-
The spokesman, Jerry W. tar,? exploratory talks with
Friedheim, said new evidence Mo -w mo. -w immediately in
gathered over the past month hop( of learning within the
gives some indication the
next six to eight weeks
Russians -may be involved in whether the Russian interest
"two separate systems of is sincere, U.S. officials said.
silo improvement."
? Friedheim suggested the Eight nations attend
silos could be for either new. These were the highlights
missiles, existing missiles or of a two-clay meeting of
perhaps only represent an el.-. NATO's eight-nation nuclear
fort to harden silos against planning group.
.attack. Manlio Brosio, secretary
- "We are not certain what general of NATO, told a news
the Soviets' intentions are," conference the defense mini-
he said. "That remains our siers comprising the nuclear
current assessment." planning group "are trying to
CIA reports prevent war before waging it.
? "You cannot have a good
Meanwhin, Senate Republi.- preventive if you do not have
can sources reported that the a- good deterrent," Brosio
Central Intelligence Agency iid
has concluded that at least-
two-thirds of the new silos
recently detected in the So-.
.viet Union appear to have
been prepared for the rela-
tively small SS11 inter-
continental ballistic missile,
rather than a large new
weapon.
Over the past 'months U.S.
intelligence has reported the
,Soviets were building 60 new
missile silos, raising alarms
that the Russians were ? eirt7;
harked on a .new missile pro-
grain and seeking a first-
strike capability.
Friedheim said the Penta-
gon was still unable to make
any final .determination of'
_what the Russians were up to..
He said the new silo construc-
tion is continuing in areas of
their cxis in SSO and 11
missjieccApoved r Release 2001/03/04 : C IA-RDP80-01601 R0003003401-04-0
Approved For Release 20 _ ADP80-016
2 7 MAY .197i STATINTL
By Michael Getler
Washington post, Staff Viiiter.
:The Pentagon said yester-
day that the new, large missile
'silos. being built in the Soviet
Union' now, appeal' to be de-
signed far to different kinds
of ICBMs, but conceded that
more than half of the new
holcS. may be for the relatively
small and less threatening SS-ll
ICBM.
Defense - officials said that
new - intelligence gathered
since late last month indicated
that the silo building program
-:-?-which touched off scares
here of a new arms race--may
be' ant in part to provide
protection for Russian.
both the 55-11s and
the huge SS-Ds, against U.S. at-
tack. rather than as a big ex-
pansion of the Soviet SS-9
force:
However, Pentagon spokes-
man -terry W. Friedheim made
it clear that the Pentagon's
"test ,. judgment remains that
either new missiIe7, or modifi-
cations of existing missiles"
will go into the "two separate
systems of silo improvement."
Privately, Defense officials
say they believe the most
likely prospect now is that the
Soviets will combine their silo
hardening effort with installa-
tion of inipl.oved versions of
both 'missiles, rather than with
any completely.. new ICBM
even bigger and more ominous
? than the existing 55-9.
. Of some (10 new ICBM silos
that .U.S. spy satellites have
spotted ? since. this February,
well-informed defense officials
say. that 20 to 25 are under
construction in missile fields
minally associated with exist-
ing -SS-9 ?IiiiSes?-and. $5 to do at
SS-11 bases. No missiles have
actually been installed in any
.of the'new holes so far, the of-
ficial.saye
Friedheith , yesterday. ex-
plained that. the .original
tectioft:of the new silos showed
?"dia.meter,s. large enough to en-
. 'compass any missile in the So-
viet inVentory"'''-' '
Disclosure of the new silos Washington hopes lb hold
was first made publicly On udown\ .the number of Soviet
March by Sen' Henry 1\11S5-93 to about 300.
Jackson (D-Wash.), ancl was
later confirmed by Defense
Secretary Melvin R..
While the Pentagon has said
all ,along that it was not sure
The Soviets now haVe al-
most .288 SS-Ds on the firing
line and presumably will add
20 to 25 more in the new silos.
Friedheim denied there had
if .the holes were for a COM-
pieteiv now missile or for a been disagreement between
modification of the existing
SS-9, the impression was gen-
erally created that whatever it
was, it was very big. It is the
55-9, equipped with multiple
warheads, which the Pentagon
has portrayed as the major
threat to knocking out U.S.
Minuteman ICMIs in a sur-
prise attack.
There was no official
indica-
tion given until yesterday that
the new holes might be for
protecting small ICBMs as
The SS-ll. carries a much
smaller warhead than the 55-9
and is not viewed as a first-
strike weapon.
Frierlheira said that while it
was still unclear what Soviet
intentions were "new infroma-
tion now available to us leads
us to conclude the Soviets
may be involved in two sepa-
rate silo improvement pro-
grams" rather than, just one.
The new evidence, other
sources say, was photos of dif-
ferent size protective concrete
liners for the missile silos
which reduce their inside di-
ameters and of different base
layouts used for the two mis-
siles.
Friedheim said that in the
past the Russians have in-
stalled SS-11. ICBMs into what
heretofore have been bases
used exclusively for shorter
range missile.
Privately, Defense officials
conceded that the latest devel-
opments, if they do not
change, are less provocative
than a big Soviet drive to add
still larger missiles. Splitting
the new silos between SS-9s
and 55-11s also seems to fit in
with U.S. objectives at the
strategic arms limitation talks;
the CIA and the Pentagon
over assessing' the moaning of
the: silo construction program
ill recent weeks.
Nevertheless, Sen. William
Proxmire (D-WiQ yesterday'
called the episodi.. the "OW
shortest missile gap in his-
tory."
;Proxmire accused - both
Laird and Jackson of whip-
ping no "a series of. scare 'cm
stories" based on the "wholly
unproved assuroptiOn that
these holes were all designed,
for the huge new 25-megaton
SS-9 missiles."
`?The lesson is clear," Prox-
mire contended. "The practice
'of selective disclosure of par-
tially analyzed intelligence
data by the Pentagon and its
allies should stop. Congress
and the American public must
not be swept off their feet by
leaks designed merely to pro-
pagandize for a bigger and fat-
ter ary budget."
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601R000300340104-0