Nation: Movable Beast

• Share

Carter okays a supermissile

The nightmare of America's military experts, as they survey the 1,054 Minuteman and Titan missiles hidden beneath the Western plains, is that increased Soviet missile accuracy will soon make them all vulnerable to a surprise attack. Their answer: build a new missile that is both powerful and movable, so that the Soviets can never zero in on it.

Planning started eight years ago on such an MX, or Missile Experimental, but the weapon has long been surrounded by controversy over how it should be deployed. In underground trenches? Inside airplanes? Or moved around within a vast network of underground silos? Nor was there even agreement on the missile itself. One Administration faction favored a longer, heavier version of the proposed submarine-launched Trident II, which could be launched from either sea or land. Still others, worried about the estimated $30 billion cost of deploying the 200 proposed missiles, denounced all versions.

The SALT II agreement permits only one new missile system between now and 1985, and President Carter wanted to reach his decision before meeting Leonid Brezhnev next Saturday. Since the Soviets have already complained about the MX as a provocation, he wanted to announce his move with as little fanfare as possible. So Deputy Press Secretary Rex Grannum last week merely confirmed previous press reports that Carter had approved the MX. America's first new ICBM in a decade will be the biggest allowed by SALT. Weighing 190,000 Ibs., more than twice as much as Minuteman, it will carry ten warheads (compared with Minuteman's maximum of three), the same as the Soviets' main ICBM, the SS-18.

Undecided until next month is the question of how to base the missile. The Air Force continues to favor a "shell game," in which the 200 missiles would be randomly shifted by truck at night among 4,000 silos. One difficulty is that this plan would make it hard for the Soviets to verify, as SALT requires, that the U.S. is not cheating on the number of missiles actually in the holes. Also, if the Soviets find which holes contain missiles and then launch an attack, it would take too long to move the missiles.

The most likely plan now is some form of trenches, in which the MX can be moved around by rail. Each trench, about 20 miles long, might be "zippered" shut, so that it could be uncovered occasionally for Soviet verifiers. MX verification is imperative for the future of SALT, since any system that frustrated verification could presumably be duplicated by the Soviets.

Many residents of Western states, where the MX is expected to go, were leery of these additions to their landscape, especially after Air Force Chief of Staff Lew Allen referred to the area as a "sponge" that could soak up Soviet missiles, but the Governors of Nevada and Utah recently announced their support of the MX trenches. Besides, the U.S. has already spent $5 million on environmental impact studies for its new weapon.