Word: nike
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...reason is new intelligence indicating that the Russians have begun deploying an anti-missile system, probably to protect their major cities. The Soviet setup is similar to the U.S.'s Nike-X concept, based on automatic firing of sentinel missiles to detonate incoming warheads...
...anti-missile missile, Nike-X, in which more than $2.4 billion has been invested in research, McNamara said only that there has been no decision to deploy it. Privately, he is opposed to Nike-X's deployment. For one thing, there is Nike's cost-a minimum of $30 billion; moreover, McNamara says, even if Nike-X is installed, the Russians could overwhelm it with an expenditure of only $5 billion in additional offensive power. He remains convinced that as long as the U.S. maintains its retaliatory capability, a nuclear exchange is highly unlikely...
...Soviet missiles may some day make the land-based birds obsolete. If that occurred, the U.S. might have to switch-at vast expense-to the water, placing ICBMs in stationary undersea silos or on movable underwater barges moored to the continental shelf. The Army has been pressing for a Nike X anti-missile system, but McNamara believes that it is too expensive ($30 billion or more) and imperfect, and that it could be thwarted by a considerably less costly increase in the opponent's offensive power...
...scope of the system, however, is of crucial importance. Deployment of Nike-X in a large scale $30 billion system would undoubtedly cause the Russians to develop new offensive and defensive systems to match ours--perhaps even perfecting an ICBM capable of circumventing anti-missile missiles. These "advances" would conceivably make the Nike-X system obsolete before it is even finished...
...purpose to preventing catastrophic aggression by the "Nth nation." It should substantiate its position by seeking further disarmament agreements with the USSR. The war in Vietnam will probably preclude such agreements at the present, but a resolution of that conflict should set the stage for successful discussions. The limited Nike-X system will contribute substantially to our military position, so long as the risk of a new and more lethal US-Soviet arms race is recognized and avoided...