Word: minuteman
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...nuclear weapons that now exists between the U.S. and the Soviet Union will eventually be upset. Already, both sides have started running the next lap in the arms race: the U.S. has begun deploying Hydraheaded, almost unstoppable MIRV (for multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicle) missiles in the Minuteman 3 and Poseidon submarine programs, and the Soviets may be on the verge of fitting their giant S59 missiles with multiple warheads...
...Administration used such claims in arguing for continued development of the Safeguard ABM system to protect U.S. Minuteman missile sites. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird urged Congress to authorize one more ABM installation (three are under construction) and give the President the choice of locating it near the nation's capital or a Minuteman complex-depending on the outcome of U.S.-Soviet arms talks...
...deployment of anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems to their respective capitals. U.S. proponents of arms control swiftly urged Nixon to accept the plan. They pointed out that it would save the U.S. the enormous cost of continuing to develop its Safeguard ABM system, which has been deployed around selected Minuteman missile sites despite strong objections in Congress. Moscow has been guarded by a ring of 64 ABMs since 1967, but none have been deployed since then...
...good deal more to this apparent U.S. shortfall. The Soviet missiles are designed for totally different purposes than ours. Defense Secretary Laird has said repeatedly that the logical reason for Soviet development of their huge weapon is to strike first at the U.S., and to strike at our Minuteman silos below the ground. Hardened silos require a huge weight of explosives for their destruction...
...contrast, our Minuteman is designed for no such first-strike function. It exists for retaliatory strikes on "soft" tar gets such as Soviet cities. Given this purpose, the Minuteman is hardly small; with its accuracy, it is capable of destroying on a one-for-one basis - one missile, one city...