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It would boost the navy's ego dramatically, because then nukes carried on submarines would have another strategic edge over silo-based missiles.
by perlgeek 3y ago
It would boost the navy's ego dramatically, because then nukes carried on submarines would have another strategic edge over silo-based missiles.
- Someone 3y agoI bet the Air Force would ask for loads and loads more money so that they could resurrect the MX “racetrack” concept. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/peacekeeper-by-fits-and-starts/ https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/peacekeeper-by-fit...: “In 1979, Carter acknowledged that fixed-based missiles were “becoming vulnerable to attack” and authorized full-scale development of MX to be deployed in Multiple Protective Shelters, a “shell-game” arrangement in the deserts of Nevada and Utah. It provided for 200 “racetracks” or long oval roadways. Each of them was a 15-mile closed loop with 23 spur roads leading off of it to concrete and steel shelters. One MX would be assigned to each racetrack, able to take cover in any of the 23 shelters. For arms control verification, the shelters would have a removable “plug” in the roof, to be opened at specific intervals to allow the Soviets to see that there was only one MX per racetrack. “The system consists of a missile, a transporter or fancy truck, a shelter or concrete bunker, a launcher decoy, and some cheap roads,” said Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Seymour Zeiberg. “For security reasons, a two-and-one-half-acre plot around the shelters will be fenced off. … The fenced area is the same as we use in the Minuteman bases. We expect that farming and grazing can be right up to the fence. … The roads connecting the shelters will be as simple as we can get away with.” The footprint of the project was significantly greater than that, said local ranchers and farmers who were opposed to it. True, the total “public exclusion zone” was 33 square miles, but the clusters were not bunched together into a single space. The total deployment area took in about 15,000 square miles, some of which might be closed off in times of increased security. That, along with more than 10,000 miles of connecting and service roads, would change the character of the desert region. Furthermore, the project would use large amounts of water, especially during construction, and deplete scarce ground water reserves. The governors of Nevada and Utah did not want the missiles in their states.“