Word: interceptor
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...those technologies became apparent. In 1986 the fad was nuclear-generated X-ray lasers. Last year the SDI organization, fearful that Congress would further cut funding in the absence of a tangible program, pressured the Pentagon into endorsing "Phase I," a system of ground- and space-based sensors and interceptor rockets...
...obstacles to the President's hurry-up schedule are formidable. There are sharp disputes between the two sides on how to count many items of hardware to be destroyed. For example, Moscow wants to include interceptor planes that are also capable of bombing and strafing. Washington does not, nor will it ! negotiate about naval forces, a major Soviet concern. The vexing matter of verification, historically a stumbling block to Senate approval of arms treaties, has not been addressed...
...history of the treaty seems to support Nunn's rejection of the "broad interpretation." If the two nations had agreed in 1972 merely to limit the ground-based interceptor missiles that existed at the time, the treaty would have become meaningless as soon as scientists invented new missile-killing technologies. For just that reason, the Nixon Administration debated how to limit what were then called "exotics" -- such as laser and particle beams...
...National Guard fulfills an equally critical function. It has been assigned almost full responsibility for the defense of the continental U.S. against enemy air strikes. Kept on 24-hour alert, the Air Guard flies 78% of all the interceptor aircraft in the U.S. inventory. In any call to large-scale combat, the Air Guard would handle 49% of all tactical air-support missions...
McFarlane's new interpretation is said to have originated with Pentagon hard-liners, including Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle. They argued that the ABM limitations do not apply to new technology. In 1972, the only operational missile-killing systems consisted of interceptor missiles fired from fixed ground sites. Negotiators attached to the treaty a rider known as Agreed Statement D, specifying that any new forms of ABM defense "would be subject to discussion." In the Pentagon reading, that clause exempted "exotic" systems, such as laser and particle beams, from the prohibitions of the pact. "Crazy," replied John Rhinelander, former...