[net.politics] MX decision

tomoc (11/25/82)

I don`t understand the defensive advantage to placing ALL the MX missiles
in a pack formation.  All an enemy has to do is launch a volley of
weapons at the area where the MXs are placed, and the whole defensive
armament area will be a crater.  Don`t tell me there will be enough
anti-ballistic missiles to defend the MXs.  Enough damage will be done
to our arms to render the entire system virtually useless.  What happened
to the underground railway idea, where the missiles would be moved so
no enemy would know just where the missiles would be located?

I`m also personally appalled by the naming of the MXs.  Peacekeepr?
No arms of any size keep the peace, they threaten it.  Of course,
how are you going to tell that to the Russians.  As Hawkeye Pierce
once said, "I`d like to see someone give a war, and nobody came."

Tom O`Connor
ixlpc!tomoc

mel (11/25/82)

The US had a "Dense Pack" policy before World War II in
the placement of "Peacemaker" battleships.  The harbours
were so crowded that the Japanese planes would all bump
into each other or shoot themselves down.
   Mel Haas  ,  houxm!mel

sjb (11/27/82)

The idea behind the dense pack decision is this:  To destroy
all the missiles, the enemy would have to launch multiple
missiles of their own.  Since they would be aimed so close
together, they would blow each other up (or so the theory
states; I am unsure exactly what the reason is behind it)
before they hit.  Of course, not all would be blown up beforehand,
and some would hit the silos, so it's not foolproof.  But
since the enemy has the missiles and has to launch them
anyway, doesn't it make better sense to lose a few missiles
rather than all of them and also have the main area of
destruction in one relatively small place rather than all
around the country?

djs (11/29/82)

The comcept behind Dense pack is that the fistrst bomb to explode will interfere
with the other in coming warheads and cause them to go off course or explode
before impact. Of course there is no way to test this wonderful defense strategy- or should I say peace keeping strategy.

				David Saphier

soreff (11/30/82)

Does anyone out there know the total 
size of the MX basing scheme? -Jeffrey Soreff