Word: pentagon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Supersonic Soviet Backfire bomber would not be counted under the proposed SALT ceiling on weapons systems. The Soviets maintain that the bomber is not a long-range weapon because it cannot fly farther than 7,000 miles. Pentagon strategists argue that Backfire should still be included under the proposed SALT agreement because if based in the Arctic or refueled in midair, the bomber could reach the U.S. To allay Pentagon fears, the Soviets offered to limit the number of Backfires and restrict their mid-air refueling and Arctic basing capabilities. Reflecting Pentagon suspicions about Russian promises, a U.S. strategist called...
...miles. Reason: the proposal would count any bomber carrying cruise missiles against the 1,320 MIRV limit set at Vladivostok. As a result, the U.S. would have to give up some existing MIRVed missiles, such as land-based Minuteman Ills or submarine-based Poseidons-a sacrifice that the Pentagon is unwilling to make...
Kissinger regards the Pentagon arguments as faulty. For one thing, the Backfire can reach the U.S. from Arctic bases without mid-air refueling only if it conserves fuel by flying at subsonic speeds. Asks a senior U.S. official: "Why would the Russians develop a supersonic airplane to fly subsonic missions...
Moreover, although Kissinger originally supported the cruise missile as a bargaining chip in arms negotiations, he now sees it as a Pentagon fixation, a nostrum advanced by the generals, in the senior official's facetious words, "as a cure for everything from cancer to the common cold...
...January 19, 1975, the Sunday Times of London reported that the Pentagon had asked Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman--a trusted friend and ally of the British and the Shah of Iran--for full rights at the British air base on the Omani island of Masirah, a request subsequently granted. For hundred miles south-east of the Straits of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf, Masirah sits right on the main sea lanes joining the Persian Gulf to the industrialized world--a perfect take off and refueling point only. Despite Congressional strictures against it the US has continued...