Word: spartan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Spartan's explosion. Within an area of a few miles, the X rays would penetrate the incoming warhead's heat shield, wreck its circuitry and defuse its trigger mechanism...
Some areas, including PAR sites that must be kept intact to maintain defenses, would also be protected by Sprints. These sharp-nosed, two-stage missiles, with a payload of a few kilotons (equal to thousands of tons of TNT instead of Spartan's millions), are aimed at warheads that have eluded Spartan. By this time the attacking vehicle has passed into the atmosphere and is traveling at about 18,000 miles per hour. To kill it before it explodes near the earth, Sprint must travel at fantastic speed. Its exact acceleration ability is secret, but the Army talks of Sprint...
...last week before the Senate Disarmament Subcommittee, they did not attack Sentinel's basic hardware. Bethe, in fact, called the components "well designed" and said he went along with the idea that Sprints should be used to protect Minuteman sites. Both Ruina and Bethe, however, were particularly critical of Spartan's role...
Cruel Irony. The ABM Sentinel system is a "thin shield" designed to protect U.S. cities from Red Chinese intercontinental ballistic missiles. Incoming warheads would be intercepted by Spartan missiles outside the earth's atmosphere. If any got through, back-up Sprint missiles would be launched to catch them seconds before they reached their target. The Pentagon contends that the resulting blast would be negligible, but radioactive fallout would be a danger. Critics argue that the Chinese will still not be a serious threat in the 1970s and that the $5 billion Sentinel network is the first step toward...
...acting like a farmer raring to start the spring plowing. The morning after the Inauguration balls, with just four hours' sleep, Nixon was up at 6:45 and in the Oval Office at 7:30, after a fast breakfast of juice, oatmeal and coffee. The suddenly spartan regimen was something of a surprise considering that Nixon has never been noted as liking early appearances. But it did enhance the image of a superindustrious new team. Trouble was, no one had passed the word down. On that first morning after, Nixon found himself pretty much alone in the White House...