Word: mx
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Until last Friday it was U.S. policy to redress this imbalance in two ways: through negotiations, like the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START), that whittled away the Soviet advantage; and by developing America's own large, heavily MIRVed land-based missile, the 10-warhead MX. Bush said in effect, Let's go straight to the bottom line, which is zero; let's agree to eliminate MIRVed ICBMs altogether...
That is a fairly easy sacrifice for the U.S. The MX is highly controversial in Congress, and only 50 have been deployed. The U.S. has 300 other, older MIRVed ICBMs. For their part, the Soviets would have to give up 763 such weapons...
...been pursuing for months. He had previously approved the killing of the Marine Corps's V-22 Osprey vertical-takeoff plane, the Navy's Lockheed P-7 antisubmarine patrol aircraft, the Army's FOG-M (fiber-optic guided missile) and an Air Force plan to place the MX missile on rails. Said a Pentagon official of the new procurement mood: "Programs that are bleeding cannot survive...
...appeared that America could safely spend far less on military might. Only two days before Iraqi armored units rolled into Kuwait, the House had slashed $24 billion from the Pentagon's $307 billion proposed budget, eliminating such high-priced weapons as the B-2 Stealth bomber and mobile MX missile. The Senate was only slightly more restrained, chopping $18 billion. While disagreeing with some items on the congressional hit list, even Defense Secretary Dick Cheney agreed that some reductions were needed. He had just completed a strategic review and was about to propose cutting 10% from the Pentagon budget...
...flurry of budget whacking, the committee canceled future production of the B-2 Stealth bomber (1991 cost cut: $1.9 billion), put both the MX and Midgetman mobile missiles on hold (1991 saving: $2.5 billion) and ordered a cutback of 129,500 service personnel, three times what the Pentagon proposed. The Senate completed floor action on its version of a military-spending bill and agreed on an $18 billion cut, including the Milstar satellite communications system (1991 price tag: $1.6 billion) and the C-17 transport (1991 saving: $1.4 billion) but salvaging a pair of the controversial B-2s. Clearly distressed...