Word: arsenal
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Under the terms of the tentative accord, the Soviets agreed to retire within five years a significant portion of their large, hydra-headed ICBMs, including their notorious "heavy" SS-18s. Those are the most worrisome of the missiles in their arsenal, since they have the combination of accuracy, speed and destructive capability to carry out a sneak attack. Numerical reductions alone do not necessarily strengthen the nuclear peace. What is important about the outcome at Reykjavik is not so much the dramatic-sounding goal of a 50% cut across the board, which would probably prove illusory in a final agreement...
Faced with that prospect, the Soviets would have no incentive to reduce their offensive forces. Quite the contrary, they would have every reason to increase their arsenal of nuclear spears. In order to maintain their own concept of deterrence, they must be confident of their ability to penetrate and overwhelm whatever shield the U.S. eventually erects...
...agreement would impose a ceiling of 100 U.S. and Soviet warheads on the continent. An additional 100 U.S. warheads would be held in reserve at home to match the Soviets' Asian arsenal...
...jargon of nuclear strategists, the linkage of West European security to the U.S. nuclear arsenal has always been known as coupling. American bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons were first flown to Europe in 1948 as a gesture of resolve during the Berlin blockade. It was not long before the Soviet Union began building up its own Euromissile arsenal, which eventually surpassed that of the West. In 1979 NATO decided to modernize its intermediate-range nuclear forces by procuring 108 Pershing II ballistic missiles (now all in place) and 464 low-flying cruise missiles (160 of which are already installed...
...British nuclear issue was also joined last week from an unfamiliar direction. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, in a taped interview with the BBC scheduled for broadcast early this week, criticized the Labor Party for demanding that Britain scrap its nuclear arsenal, ban U.S. nuclear bases and prevent U.S. ships carrying nuclear arms from entering British waters. If a future Labor government should put such policies into operation, Weinberger warned, the result could be the dismantling of NATO. Labor Leader Neil Kinnock, whose fellow party members are expected to reaffirm a no-nukes stand this week at their annual conference...