Word: triad
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...other master politician, we should look at Gorbachev's deeds as well as his words. One example is Soviet military power. He still spends 20% of his gross national product on defense, compared with 6% in the U.S. He has modernized all three legs of the Soviet strategic nuclear triad. Soviet superiority in tanks, chemical weapons and combat aircraft has been maintained and in some cases increased. The Soviet Union's military might is greater now than when Gorbachev came to power. Even if he has been sounding to some hopeful ears like a dove, his bristling talons still make...
...there agreement on the strategic justification for the bomber. Cheney argues that the Stealth is needed to maintain "the effectiveness of the bomber leg of the strategic triad," the mix of land- and sea-based missiles and nuclear weapons carried by aircraft on which U.S. deterrence has been based. Welch contends that bombers are regarded by both the U.S. and the Soviets as "the most stabilizing element of the triad." Unlike missiles that can strike in 30 minutes or less, bombers need hours to reach their targets and hence do not represent a first-strike threat against the Soviets. Moreover...
...President's deliberations will be guided by the concept that has been the basis of U.S. nuclear deterrence for more than 30 years: that enough American weapons must survive a Soviet surprise attack to guarantee a devastating retaliatory strike. Pursuing that strategy, the U.S. has built a formidable triad of strategic nuclear forces: land-based ICBMs in silos, sea- based missiles aboard submarines, and nuclear bombs carried by airplanes. But over the years, the increased accuracy of Soviet ICBMs has gradually threatened the land-based leg of the triad, which consists of 450 Minuteman IIs, each carrying a single warhead...
Although many respected observers argue the case, it makes little sense to worry unduly about the vulnerability of the land-based leg of the triad when it accounts for only 20% of the 12,000 warheads in America's strategic nuclear arsenal. Even in the unlikely event that a first strike wiped out the entire American land-based missile force, the U.S. could still obliterate the Soviet % Union with a fraction of the 5,300 warheads on its modern missile submarines and the 4,700 on its bombers. Though the first operational test last week of a Trident II missile...
...Soviets were moving toward meeting that standard. They also agreed in principle to subceilings, which would limit the number of warheads that could be kept on each "leg" of the strategic triad -- ICBMs, submarine- launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and intercontinental bombers. The U.S. wanted what it called "preferential" subceilings, which mandated deep cuts in ICBMs, where the Soviets had piled up most of their firepower, while all but leaving alone SLBMs and bombers, two areas of American advantage. "That's not fair, and you know it," said Karpov. "If there are to be subceilings, they'll apply equally...