Word: sac
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...President could hardly have been surprised that another big question at his news conference dealt with the state of U.S. defenses; his morning Washington Post headlined the plea of Air Force General Thomas Power, chief of the Strategic Air Command, for a round-the-clock SAC airborne alert to cover the years (1961-63) when the U.S. will lag in missile production...
...most insistent worry is that sometime in the early 1960s the U.S.S.R. might be tempted by its edge in missiles to try to knock out U.S. retaliatory power with a surprise attack on U.S. bomber and missile bases. The warning by SAC's commander, General Thomas S. Power, that with a mere 300 ballistic missiles the U.S.S.R. could "wipe out our entire nuclear strike capability within a span of 30 minutes," is much to the point. General Power's answer to the threat-an "airborne alert" that would keep 25% of SAC...
...second widespread worry, inside and outside the Pentagon, is the possibility that Soviet advances in air defense might largely cancel out SAC's bombers before the U.S. gets around to closing the missile gap. To assure that SAC keeps ahead of Soviet air defense progress, SAC's Power and the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Thomas D. White, want to start placing orders for North American Aviation Inc.'s B70 bomber, designed to fly at three times the speed of sound. In its money requests for fiscal 1961, the Air Force asked for $464 million...
...plausibly that it would make more sense to narrow the missile gap by speeding up development of Minuteman. If defense funds were unlimited, it would doubtless be well to push ahead with both the B70 and Minuteman-and build more B-58s, more Polaris submarines and more Atlases, make SAC more secure by dispersing its bases, and hasten modernization of Army equipment too. But every defense budget, whether it totals $41 billion or $51 billion, must have a limit, must make choices between alternative courses and overlapping programs. Having made their choices, however, defense planners must follow through...
Airborne Alert. Dependence on SAC during the years of the missile gap requires that SAC's bombers be safeguarded from a surprise missile attack. The 1961 budget includes a skimpy $90 million to provide for preparations for an airborne alert at some unspecified future time. Needed: additional funds to ensure that 25% of SAC's B-52s can go on airborne alert...