DEFENSE: The Supersonic Shield

(See Cover)

If Moscow should decide some mid night to attack the U.S., 900 Soviet heavy bombers could be over North America by dawn. Some 300 Red planes, manned by elite crews and loaded with nuclear or thermonuclear bombs, would streak toward vital U.S. target areas. The others, carrying TNT and fire bombs, would serve to divert and confuse U.S. defenses.

Twoscore well-placed hydrogen bombs could kill one-fourth of the American people; conceivably, an all-out surprise attack could destroy the nation's will to resist and power to strike back.

America's defenses against this nightmarish—but...