david@rand-unix.UUCP (David Shlapak) (06/15/84)
The reason the U.S. doesn't test missiles out of operational silos
has nothing to do with fears about their reliability...our ICBMs,
unlike the latest Soviet ones, are "hot launched," meaning that the
rocket engine ignites while the booster is still in the silo, messing
the launch site up something awful. Rather than destroy an operational
silo (and entail millions of dollars in repairs) SAC uses specially
constructed silos out at Vandenberg.
Like much of Cockburn's book his section on central nuclear war is
essentially nonsense. I could give you about 200 lines about the
intellectual dishonesty that's ridiculously evident to anyone who
knows more than he does about defense issues (which is practically
anyone) but I shan't bore you. Instead, I'll simply say that missile
reliabilities on both sides are considerably higher than "15 %."
Period. Cockburn has an axe to grind, and he does it well, but
transparently.
The Soviets, fortunately, are not "ten feet tall;" neither are they
(as Cockburn would have it) one foot tall...in fact, the average
Soviet conscript is ~5' 6"...
--- das