Word: warheaded
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...Force went to work on Minuteman, designed to be fired some 6,000 miles from bases in the continental U.S. Like Polaris. Minuteman packs a half-megaton punch (only one-third of the explosive load of the fully developed, liquid-fueled Atlas and only one-fifth of the giant warhead of the liquid Titan). Like Polaris and the Army's tactical Pershing missile, Minuteman is cheaper and far simpler to handle than its liquid-fueled predecessors, requires a much smaller crew. Once built and armed, it can be stored indefinitely, countdown-ready-an ideal weapon for the split-second...
...purpose of the picture was not to frighten but to reassure. Along Britain's coast there are 20 Thor squadrons of three missiles each, the warheads of most in position. But they cannot be fired by someone pushing a button in a panic. Under the terms of a 1958 agreement, the British man the missiles while the U.S. has control of the warheads. The keys symbolize and make concrete that joint control. Actually, there are two sets of keys, one held by a U.S. officer, another by an R.A.F. officer. There are three keys in each...
...pressure, sending a dense cloud of vapor into the air. The fueling is completed. The transporter-erector is removed from the missile. Twelve minutes have passed. At any point up to two minutes before the launching, the U.S.A.F. officer may turn his key, thus starting the activation of the warhead. But the warhead does not become fully armed until after the missile has been launched...
...those who know that pacifism cannot help but help the Russians. And when, in a landslide-election win, the anti-Bomb boys and girls take power, the fat of 1,000 years of British history is in the fire. In a few weeks, the Yanks with their hydrogen-warhead missiles have been moved back to their own hemisphere and Britain is free to become another peace-loving People's Republic, with a Russian "inspectorate," concentration camps and mass deportation from the industrial Midlands to "correct" the population imbalance...
...separated, and as the missile curved down toward the sea, two more pieces fell off, releasing a small parachute to check its speed. When the missile hit the water, it freed itself from the parachute, turned itself into an acoustically guided torpedo and darted toward the Skate. If its warhead had been alive, the U.S. would have lost one nuclear submarine...