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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1999.PDF
802 FLIGHT International, 14 November 1963 AN incredible burst of energy in the US aerospace industry resulted in the commissioning last July of the first wing of Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles to the US Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC) at a sprawling base in one of the loneliest states in the Union. 150 missiles operational out of the 950 funded may not seem a significant event, in view of the current numbers of Atlases and Titans in a state of opera tional readiness; but Minuteman cannot be measured against its predecessors. While carrying less nuclear force than the others, such a mass-produced, hardened missile upsets the whole balance of missile-for-missile calculations between the United States and the Soviet Union, illogical as any such plans may be. To talk of "missile balance" is meaningless beyond a certain point, in the age of such potential destruction from so few weapons. Fortunately, the huge numbers are argued necessary only to fit into the USA's counter-strike strategy. High-ranking Air Force officers at the turnover ceremonies seemed, to this correspondent, to speak much more convincingly of nuclear power carried by missile than on any other occasion; references to SAC bombers faded considerably. Along with these sentiments came definite conviction, however paradoxical, that the Air Force has made great progress towards a weapon for peace. Currently in the United States there is a definite element of opinion intent on questioning the logic of the whole nuclear-backed second- strike capability. Is it not a cold fact, this element argues, that every major US city would be presumably laid in waste by relatively few warheads at the same time that US missiles were en route to Soviet targets of a military nature? And, to a nation unquestionably devoted to peace, a pre-emptive war is happily impossible. Going around in circles on such topics is a familiar but frustrating topic, that can be satisfied only by universal disarmament. Perhaps the Cuban situation first made the generals realize the need to explain, however ineptly, the place of military strength in peaceful planning. The fact that the frightening strain placed upon the personnel of Strategic Air Command makes them discuss their hardware, rather than their place in maintaining peace, is not hard to understand. These comments from Lieut-Gen Archie J. Old, Jr, Commander MINUTEMAN Pax Orbis per Arma Aeria (Strategic Air Command Motto) BY IAIN PIKE of SAC's 15th Air Force, demonstrates something of the feeling injected into the original acceptance of the first flight of 20 weapons at Malmstrom AFB, in Montana. "If this country is going to continue to back up its principles with action, we will need weapons with the capability for deterring aggression found in Minuteman. Such weapons give the credible deterrent needed to respond to Communist aggression of all kinds and at all levels. . . . Minuteman is not the ultimate weapon system. Such a system will probably never be developed. Our ability to practice diplomacy with some freedom of action in the future will depend on the deterrent force in being at that time. Our deterrence, therefore, must be continually evolved to meet chal lenges as they come." Strange diplomacy, perhaps; but then Gen Old added, "Minuteman can be considered as part of a new dynamic deterrence keyed to the future. We are taking a significant step today. We are crossing what could be the threshold to an era of peace and security unprecedented in world history." In between these statements, Gen Old indicated that SAC considers all ballistic-missile systems as stepping stones to space, and referred to a "future triple mixed force"—presumably of missiles, space systems and either aircraft or submarines. Who can realize the need for peace more than a general in love with his weapons? Lt-Gen Tom Gerrity, whose drive and initiative did so much for the Minuteman programme, probably closely reflects the opinion of the Department of Defense in the following:— "The Minuteman force, the first score of which became opera tional here today, will grow rapidly to 800. . . . Rarely has the act of dealing from a position of strength in international diplomacy been more vividly demonstrated than in the 1962 Cuban crisis. With the clear superiority of the Strategic Aerospace Forces possessed by our nation, the President was in a position to challenge the forces of assurance that our deterrent strength would prevent escalation into nuclear war. "This superiority of forces must be maintained across the entire spectrum of weaponry, and until some other surer method 01 ensuring peace is devised. Minuteman will certainly be a large part of our deterrent force for some time to come. It is a force we can afford. It has reversed the trend towards weapons of ever-increasing cost and complexity. The cost of operating and nmintaining this force is a distinct improvement over the older missile systems. The general also fitted in a plug for a "balanced force of not only intercontinental ballistic missiles but also manned weapon-systems Such is the importance of Minuteman: LGM-30, Missile Weapon System 133A.
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