Word: poseidons
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...like the one in Viet Nam, substantial forces are likely to remain in the field for many months and be withdrawn gradually. Meanwhile, the country has made expensive commitments to advanced-weapons systems. Some items: the conversion of 31 Polaris submarines (cost: $248 million) to carry 496 Poseidon missiles at $80 million per vessel, the first six of which are to take place this year; the beginning of procurement for components of the Sentinel and the anti-ballistic missile system, ultimately estimated at $5.5 billion; the development of the new Minuteman III to carry the MIRV (Multiple Independently-targeted...
...defense improvement is misplaced. Developments like MIRV indicate that the real problem in nuclear strategy is technological progress, but MIRV also shows that the United States is not standing still. Other American efforts include the modernization of the land-based Minuteman and the 656 sea-based Polaris and Poseidon missiles (which Nixon discounts in his calculations of nuclear superiority). The Soviets' major concern seems to be an ICBM that could follow an orbit through space to its target. Such a weapon could clude an ABMS system but would probably be quite inaccurate...
...near-flawless display of precision rocketry, the U.S. last week added two formidable new weapons systems to its nuclear arsenal. The Navy's fleet ballistic missile Poseidon and the Air Force's powerful Minuteman III ICBM, both on their maiden tests, winged like homing pigeons to their targets from two launching areas at Cape Kennedy. Their dual success was remarkable, but what distinguished the solid-fuel missiles even more was their potential. Each is designed to carry Multiple Individually-Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV), comprising as many as ten separate nuclear warheads ticketed for preselected targets...
...stage Poseidon was first to lift off, at 6:30 a.m. Roaring up from darkness into the Florida dawn, the missile was illuminated by the rays of the rising sun. Leaving a psychedelic trail of ionized gases, it streaked away. Barely 10 minutes had elapsed after lift-off when it was announced that Poseidon had sped to a perfect splashdown, 1,150 miles away down the Atlantic missile range. Then came the taller, three-stage Minuteman III. Launched at 4:30 p.m. in a geyser of orange flame, it raced 5,000 miles to another brilliant on-target splashdown near...
After further testing, the 2,800-mile-range Poseidon will go into 31 of the nation's fleet of 41 ballistic-missile sub marines, which now carry the Polaris. Minuteman III will replace 700 Minuteman I's (currently operational along with Minuteman II and Titan II) in hardened silos. Poseidon may carry as many as ten separately targetable warheads, and Minuteman perhaps three, along with decoy chaff and penetration devices to fool enemy anti-ballistic mis sile systems. Together, they could raise the U.S. single-strike capability to a formidable maximum of 7,500 nuclear warheads...