Nuclear Arms Control Choices by Harold Brown

Author:Harold Brown [Brown, Harold]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science
ISBN: 9780429049859
Google: RZwYyAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 3784605
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1984-07-19T00:00:00+00:00

Sea-launched Cruise Missiles

The SALT II Protocol placed limits until 1981 on SLCMs with ranges in excess of 600 km. Much of the United States' urban-industrial and military target system is vulnerable to missiles with ranges of less than 600 km, while few Soviet targets fall within that range. To provide for symmetrical limits, an agreement would need to include SLCMs with a range greater than about 200 km, rather than, as the Soviets have insisted, above 600 km.

It is difficult to say whether the United States should agree to any limits on SLCMs, especially in view of the uncertainty which currently surrounds the mission of this weapon. At times it has been presented as a strategic reserve force, at other times it is portrayed as a complement to U.S. theater nuclear capabilities. What is clear is that verifying an agreement on SLCMs will create many problems. The U.S. Navy is planning to deploy thousands of SLCMs on both surface ships and submarines. Some will be conventional and others nuclear. The Soviet Union also deploys conventional and nuclear SLCMs. For verification purposes, ceilings on SLCMs will need to include both conventional and nuclear missiles unless they they can be made distinguishable—a difficult task, and probably impossible if the launch tubes are the same. Before deploying SLCMs with nuclear warheads, the United States should determine that the military value of this system is worth the problems it will create for arms control or, alternatively, that it is not possible to achieve an agreement with the Soviet Union providing for equitable SLCM limits.

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