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Aviation History
1971
1971 - 2023.PDF
ruiuni international, JU aepwrnoer IT/I 11IIIII 551 DEFENCE American and Russian missile strengths THE NOMOGRAMS on this page show the comparative strengths of the United States and the Soviet Union in terms of long-range ballistic missile deploy ment. While the figures show that the Soviet Union now possesses a larger number of ICBMs than does the United States, and is also rapidly in creasing its SLBM force, there are qualifications which must be made. First, the figures for United States ICBMs include 54 Titan 2s which, although they carry the largest war head of any US missile, are being phased out of service as they reach the end of their operational lives. Secondly, the figure of 1,510 ICBMs for the Soviet Union includes approxi mately 100 SS-7 Saddlers and SS-8 Sasins which are deployed in MRBM/ IRBM fields, and whose role is there fore doubtful. The main qualification which must be made, however, is that it is more useful to consider warhead num bers than missile numbers. These sets of figures are becoming increas ingly divergent with the introduction of Mirvs (Multiple Independently targetable Re-entry Vehicles) and, to a lesser extent, MRVs (Multiple Re entry Vehicles). MRVs have been employed for several years on Polaris A3 and, possibly, the Russian SS-9 Scarp, but the United States at least is now introducing Mirv warheads on Minuteman 3 and Poseidon. The Soviet Union has been testing SS-9s and SS-lls with multiple warheads since 1968 at least, and the triple warhead on the SS-9 has a separation "footprint" which is sufficient to attack a three-silo Minuteman complex with a single missile. Minuteman 3, on the other hand, carries its three warheads in a manoeuvrable "bus," which is an advance on the SS-9 system, which probably employs only simple sequential warhead separation with only a limited post-boost man oeuvring capability. In the SLBM field, the United States maintains its lead in missile numbers and, with the introduction of Poseidon with its ten-head Mirv, an increasing lead in warhead numbers. Although the Soviet Union is commissioning Y-class nuclear submarines in increas ing numbers and is developing a new, longer-range SLBM, the US is already Table I shows the comparative strength in ICBMs between America and Russia for the last II years, while Table 2 shows that for SLBMs over the same period looking ahead to an enlarged SLBM fleet of ULMS (Ultra Long-range Missile Submarines) which would operate from continental-shelf areas of ocean, thereby increasing vastly the area of possible ocean coverage. The pattern of missile/warhead relative strengths of the super powers thus follows a fairly predictable route, 1,6001 1,5001 1,4001 1,3001 1,2001 1,1001 1,0001 900 j 8001 7001 6001 and Mirv deployment may not be as destabilising as had first been thought. New Soviet silos have recently been detected, however, and, with the very large warhead capability of the SS-9 (perhaps 25 megatons un-Mirved), a developed version of that missile could substantially alter the already some what unstable balance of power. •USA I -USSR S^^SI5^« 834 «1 MM 500II 400 m 3< 200 ISiil III ""•' 53 50 M 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 ill Hi Hi 111 S iilll 5fC 656 656 656 656 600S 5001 49S 416 .1<S0 244 zoos 144 w 160 • ••nil 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971
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