War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Reagan's Shield; 112; Air Force Now 134: MX Missile

Silent within their underground silos these intercontinental ballistic missiles have kept America secure for two decades only a direct hit will penetrate the reinforced concrete which protects these Minuteman and Titan missiles from enemy warheads. But enemy ICBMs are becoming just that accurate. Their work heads are now able to destroy a significant portion of our strategic missiles in their silos. The ballistic missiles deterrent will become a thing of the US a major bill clapper of the Ballistic Missile office we're developing a new strategic missile system that will help maintain our nuclear deterrent and to the 21st century. It's based on the game but with much higher stakes. The name of the game is to mix its object to hide our newest ICBMs from the enemy ensuring their survivability. The enemy will know where a missile could be just as we know where the peak could be but not where it is for sure.

Instead of three shells each M-x missile will be hidden in any one of 23 protective shelters. Clearly no enemy will risk a one shot guess when the stakes are national survival. So to be sure of destroying that one missile and its warheads an attacker will have to destroy all of its shelters. That means a minimum of 23 of their most accurate warheads to destroy only one missile and the M-x force will have 200 missiles. If they build more warheads we can build more shelters at a lower cost to keep our advantage. If we have to we can add an anti ballistic missile system to defend M-x. This would force the enemy to aim several of their warheads at each shelter to guarantee its destruction. That's the emacs concept. Mobility and concealment are the key words with them. The cost of an all out attack will be so high that no adversary can afford to try.

The engineering required to make the MXR reality is truly staggering. I Major Bill Jacobs commander of the Amex engineering test bed there Mark Green Nevada living in hiding poses some difficult problem where using this early version of the Amex transporter to try to solve some of those problems at the world's largest rubber tired vehicle and it gives you some idea of the magnitude of the project. Next won't be fully operational until 1989 but this is how it will work. The m x force will be based in broad desert valleys in the Southwest far from any large cities. The 23 protective shelters for each missile will be spaced along an access road so that no enemy warhead could destroy more than one transporter vehicle will move the missile from shelter to shelter. The missile will be placed in one of the shelters. Pilot dummy missile takes its place in the transporter. It will be impossible for enemy spy satellites or ground observers to tell where the missile really in this process will be repeated periodically

because it's mobile the missile can be moved quickly if we ever suspect that its location is known when needed the mobile launcher will move out of the shelter door and launch its missile. Work on the project has already begun. While engineers perfect missile components and technicians test model shelters while rocket engines roar in the night a small number of specialists are already working in the valleys that will hold an ax. Archaeologists combing proposed missile sites to preserve Indian relics. Biologists studying the effects of M-x on wildlife geologists hydrologists surveyors. Every effort is being made to minimize the impact of M-x on the environment. And while the shelters will be spread over a large area only 25 square nautical miles will actually contain M-x facilities. The rest of the land will remain open for mining ranching and recreation.

That's the X program. It's a variation of the ocean game but it's no game of chance. It's a calculated program to preserve America's security by making an attack on our ICBM force unthinkable as long as any enemy is unwilling to attack 200 missiles hidden among 40 600 shelters M-x will be doing its job.