brucec@orca.UUCP (06/22/84)
Ah, yes, the Fractional Orbit Bombardment System. The U.S. decided not to build one, but as I recall, the Russians sucessfully tested such a system at least once in the early '60s, before the ban on strategic weapons in orbit. Does anyone know if they ever deployed it, or if they still have the capability with their existing launch vehicles? The argument that I recall for the use of such a system is that the early warning radars of both the U.S. and Russia look mostly north, and the FOBS warheads travel very low compared to ballistic trajectories (~200 Km vs. several thousand Km). Thus FOBS gives your opponent less warning time, enhancing the probability of success of a first strike (which was one of the reasons it didn't get a lot of favor in the U.S., which at the time had denied itself the option of first strike). Bruce Cohen UUCP: ...!tektronix!orca!brucec CSNET: orca!brucec@tektronix ARPA: orca!brucec.tektronix@rand-relay USMail: M/S 61-183 Tektronix, Inc. P.O. Box 1000 Wilsonville, OR 97070