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When the news of the successful shot reached Washington, Congressmen debating the farm bill in the House burst into applause. California Democrat George P. Miller exultantly called it "one of the greatest breakthroughs in recent defense development." The Army brass who oversee the Nike-Zeus program were jubilant. But just as the Pentagon had taken Khrushchev's boast calmly, so too it restrained its own reaction to the Nike-Zeus success. As far as the Defense Department was concerned, it was merely "part of a continuing development series"-and Secretary Robert S. McNamara had his doubts that it would...
Serious Weaknesses. McNamara observed -before the Kwajalein test that it would be conducted under "controlled conditions that differ substantially from actual combat." In last week's test the onrushing Atlas ICBM actually carried a transmitter to clue the slender, 48-ft. Nike-Zeus bird in on its target.* In an actual attack, an ICBM might spew out "decoys" designed to baffle the tracking radar-as was not the case last week-or an ionospheric nuclear blast might knock out the radar altogether. "As advanced as the Nike-Zeus system is-and we believe it to be quite advanced...
...Nike-Zeus rocket, "interception" does not necessarily mean "a hit.'" Scientists calculate that with a one-kiloton warhead the rocket could either neutralize or destroy a multimegaton monster from a distance of a mile or more. The theory has yet to be tested, but it has silenced critics who originally scorned the plan as a foolhardy attempt to "hit a bullet with a bullet." Says an official of Douglas Aircraft, one of the major contractors for the program: "It's like hitting a bullet with a couple of football stadiums...
...Defense. The Army proposed locating 120 Nike-Zeus batteries around major U.S. targets, each with 50 missiles and with radar capable of tracking three warheads at once. But the cost would have been a stratospheric $10 billion to $14 billion-and McNamara decided that it was not worth it. What would happen, he asked, in a saturation attack? The Army conceded that many missiles would get through, but argued that the expense was justified even if only a few were stopped. Unconvinced, McNamara last March ruled out production of the Nike-Zeus system until its problems were solved...
...time being, the shots at Kwajalein will continue, eventually with decoys and radar-jamming techniques to test Nike-Zeus's versatility. "We know of no better solution to the problem,'" said McNamara, but he clearly was unsatisfied with the current state of U.S. anti-missile defenses. "At the present time," said Mc-Narnara when he put the brakes to the program last March, "it appears to us that no amount of money can make possible an absolute defense of this country against the ICBM.'" Despite last week's success, he has not changed his mind...