Word: mirved
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...Secretary Harold Brown, National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, his deputy, David Aaron, and Carter himself were all dissatisfied with the Vladivostok accord. Its subceiling of 1,320 multiple-warhead launchers allowed the two sides "freedom to mix" land-based and submarine-launched MlRVed missiles. The Soviets could concentrate their MIRV force on land, where
...limit, rather than an averaging approach, on cruise missiles aboard bombers. Since the Russians were yielding to the U.S. on the averaging approach, Gromyko continued, their earlier concession on the MIRV freeze was no longer operative. Sighed a haggard American official, paraphrasing Lenin, "One step forward, one step backward...
...frozen at the quantity already tested. That meant a maximum of ten for the Soviet monster SS-18. But last December the U.S. detected the Soviets testing an SS-18 in a way that suggested that the missile might soon have the capacity to carry twelve warheads. Since the MIRV freeze is an important selling point in the upcoming battle for SALT II ratification, the Carter Administration wants specific language banning any Soviet test that could allow more than ten warheads to be fired...
...basic missile is still known by its initials, ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile), but its systems for multiple warheads sound more like a team of comedians-MIRV and MARV (for multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle and the more advanced maneuverable reentry vehicle whose course can be adjusted after launch...
Under a formula still to be negotiated, the cruises will be indirectly included "in the context" of the MIRV limits...