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