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High Country News Vol. 14.24, Dec. 10, 1982

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High Country News Vol. 14.24, Dec. 10, 1982 ·2&& !Lp' IsfiFf 8.1 t ... ~" , "\' '" Dec. 10, 1982 - Hlgb Country News- 7 I I 1 i ·1: BY DAN WHIPPLE he MX missile is a "Peace- Norris, a research analyst for the Center for Defense Information said, "Even the keeper" because it "insures that the Soviets gain no advantage administration concedes that sooner or T later dense pack will be defeated by the from initiating an attack." The basic paradox of nuclear Soviets. Then an anti-ballistic missile Or, the MX is a "warmaker" because system (ABM)will be needed." An ABM "it is a new system that no longer just weapons is that they are too system is one which intercepts and des- gives the United States the ability to troys incoming missiles before they respond to a Sovietattack, but to try to reach their target. Under the SALT I fight a nuclear war and win it. In polite powerful to be used. But if treaty, both the US. and US.5.R are company, you can't say we need war- limited to one ABM site each. fighting weapons, so they talk instead And, according to Dr. Richard Gar- about the 'window of vulnerability'." this is so, they lose all their These are the opinions of the US. Air win, an independent arms expert and Force and the private, non-profit Center strategic and diplomatic consultant to IBM, "Packing the MXes for Defense Information, respectively. closely together virtually assures that With President Reagan'sannouncement they will be rendered inoperable by the two weeks ago that he wanted to deploy .value, so we have to keep electromagnetic pulse that would be 100 MX missilesinhardened silos in the created by the detonation of an incom- ~anching country of southeast Wyom· threatening to use them. ing weapon." Electromagnetic pulse is ing, lillie Cheyenne (pop. 47,000) has an only-recently understood effect of a become the center of the most impor- nuclear weapon's explosion. In a high- tant nuclear weapons debate of this altitude detonation, it can knock out decade and perhaps of the century. ing" and what nearlyeveryone else calls concrete in strongly confined steel, In electrical equipment over a wide area When you tum off Interstate 80 onto "dense pack." Critics call it "dunce the past, 45,000 to 50,000 pounds of by sending apowerful surge of electric- East Lincolnwayin Cheyenne, you drive pack." Dense pack is either the 31st, pressure per square inch would destroy ity through conductive materials. past the LittleAmerica motel and truck 32nd, 33rd or 34th basing mode pro- concrete. However, with the steel, the According to Jonathan Schell in Tbe stop ("Most Credit Cards") and the fan- posed for MX.No one seems to be terri- concrete silos have survived the tests." Fate of tbe Earth, "A multi-kiloton cier Hitching Post motel, where most of bly certain. The Air Force has run tests on scale nuclear weapon detonated 125 miles the state legislators live during the Dense pack - like all of the other models of the silos with the equivalent over Omaha, Nebraska, could generate yearly sessions. If you turn left at the proposed and rejected basing modes - of a 25 megaton warhead - the size an electromagnetic pulse strong second stoplight past them, you enter is an attempt to make certain that US. believed to be the most likely used by enough to damage solid-state electrical Missile Drive, which takes you to the land-based strategic nuclear weapons the Soviets against the MX. Mullaney circuits throughout the entire contin- gates of F.E.Warren Air Force Base. can survive a first assault by Soviet ntis- said the scale model survived the test. ental United States and in parts of Can- As the name of the road implies, siles. The concept has essentially two The second line of defense is "missile ada and Mexico." A. kiloton is the Warren is already the command center components - incoming missile fratri- fratricide." This is the theory that, if the equivalent of 1,000 tons oflNT. A meg- for a large portion of the current U.S. cide and superhardened silos. Soviets launch a large number of ntis- aton is the equivalent of one million nuclear arsenal. Cheyenne has been liv- 'The missiles would be put in silos siles at the MX dense pack, some will tons of lNf. Most US. weapons are ing with the most powerful weapons about 170 feet below the surface of the explode earlier than others, destroying between .335 and one megaton in des- - known to man since 1958 and local resi- ground. They would be arranged on a those behind them and decreasing the tructive power. Soviet weapons are dents have developed a pronounced . plot ofland measuring one to one-and-a- effectiveness of the attack. Mullaney larger in their destructive power, which indifference to the destructive potential half miles wide and 20 miles long. The said, "Fratricide is well understood. is usually called "throw weight." in their midst. Warren monitors 200 of 20 to 25 square mile area would be That is really not in doubt. There are Other potential methods of over com- the approximately 1,000 existing Min- arranged in a north-south direction. some very simplistic arguments against ing the dense pack, critics say, are tim- uteman III intercontinental ballistic This will be done because any Soviet it. We're very confident that a large per- ing devices. that set off the incoming missile linstallations - 87 in nearby attack is expected to come over the centage of the system will be surviva- warheads simultaneously and sequen- Nebraska, 55 in Coloradoand 48 in south- North Pole and this arrangement would ble." Exactly how many of the missiles tial launching 'of missiles SO that the eastern Wyoming. Warren is one present a narrower' target for Soviet the Air Force estimates will survive is next one in line doesn't hit the target Cheyenne's major employers and is uni- missiles. classified ,information. until the explosive force of tbe preced- versally considered. a "good neighbor." One line of defense for the missiles is However, since no one anywhere has ing one has dissipated. I• Under the president's proposal, the super-hardened silos. According to ever been involved in a massivenuclear Each MX missile will be equipped I Warren would be the command center Air Force Captain Patrick Mullaney: attack, the question of whether fratri- with 10 nuclear warheads. These will for all I 00 MXmissiles, arrayed in what director of public affairs for the Ballistic cide will happen is highly debatable, . have a throw weight of between .335 the Air Force calls "Closely Spaced lias- Missile Office, "The silos encapsulate despite the Air Force's certainty. Stan (continued on next page) 'j . 5,. A f . Xc.. B-Higb Country News - Dec. 10, 1982 • SUitable Nea ~ing (conltnued from previous page) 1150 foot rock & water! ~u.s. Govemment Property and.5 megatons each. They will be mul- tiple, independently targetable re-entry • Representative Array Deployment Site vehicles, or MIRVs_ This means that F. E. Warren AFB 'Ii each of the 10 warheads can be targeted for a different site. Thus, the IQO-missile MX system theoretica1Jy would be able to hit 1,000 different targets in the Soviet Union. The chief strategic advan- ~~j~~Il tage beyond the increased "payload" is the better accuracy -promised by the .;::::):: ;:l 2 w.rren mat·:·.-.·.· missile. Currently, both U.S. and Soviet missiles can hit within an average of .2 miles of the target. The MX would improve that average to .05 miles. he Minuteman III missile, which the MX will comple- Tment, currently carries three .335 megaton warheads. Linda and Alan Kirkbride have three Minuteman mis- sile silos on their ranch northeast of Cheyenne in Meriden, Wyoming. The F:E~:nm ~80 sites are unimpressive, even close up. 'They are fenced areas of about an acre and a half with a lot of concrete and ~80 some antennas. Linda said, "I've only seen the missile out of its silo once. It was huge. Psychologically, if it were located above ground, I don't think we'd have been able to deal with it. The fact that it's buried makes it easier." The Kirkbrides have been instrumen- "Traditional values are part of it, too. the policy to comply with state rules. - $10.6 billion for research and devel- tal in the establishment of the Tri-State My husband's family is a fourth genera- We are moving into the community to opment, $13.0 billion for procurement MX Coalition. This group, which tion ranch family. We want to be live there, and it is our intention' to and 82.8 billion for construction. Much includes ranchers and fanners from ranchers. We want to be able to con- comply with state law." of the latter cash will end up in the Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska, is tinue to do what we've been doing." . There may be a move in this session of Cheyenne business community and working on the local level to stop the - Pete Hansen is a neighbor of the Kirk- the state legislature to amend the Indus- many of the local business and political MX. leaders welcome the influx of capital brides'. He lives alone in the ranch trial Siting Act to bring the project into Linda said, "We've had the Minute- and jobs. The primary concern of this house his grandfather built in 1896. He state jurisdiction. Even if it passes, how- man JlI silos since the early 19605. At interest group has been impact mitiga- jokingly referred to the Kirkbrides as ever, the federal government could the time, they were mostly accepted.
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