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From: deichman@cod.nosc.mil (Shane D. Deichman)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Conventional warheads on ICBMs?
Message-ID: <1990Oct2.235101.23357@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 2 Oct 90 23:51:01 GMT
References: <1990Oct1.022048.3082@cbnews.att.com>
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From: deichman@cod.nosc.mil (Shane D. Deichman)

>From: pjs@aristotle.JPL.NASA.gov (Peter Scott)
>time it's taking to get troops and materiel over there, I found
>myself wondering whether ICBMs could be rearmed with conventional
>warheads and used against strategic targets in Iraq?  After all,
>it's an alternative to destroying the launchers (which happens
>when arms reduction treaties are signed), there's no 'N'-word
>stigma, and they are accurate enough by now to take out a
>chem factory, right?  If we'd been attacked in Saudi Arabia in
>the early days after the invasion of Kuwait, could we have
>read off lat/long of targets from satellite recon and taken
>them out?
>

  BAD idea!  Sure, our ICBMs have a CEP of a couple hundred
yards -- plenty sufficient if you have a big enough warhead
on the thing.  Of course, you incur a number of other problems:

	1:  Targeting -- ICBMs are specified for a certain
		RV design; to make a conventional warhead
		of the same dimensional properties of a
		nuke would make a very small yield warhead.
		Besides, you could be sacrificing some 
		accuracy in changing the parameters of the
		PBV load.

	2:  Cost -- Why use a $10 million-plus weapon to do
		a job that can be accomplished just as
		easily with a $3 million cruise missile?

	3:  (and most important of all) Destabilization --
		Don't forget that Iraq is awful close to the 
		Soviet Union....  In fact, RVs on a great
		circle trajectory would go right over the
		pole (AND Soviet airspace) en route to
		Iraq.  Now, Glasnost and Perestroika are
		neat things, but try convincing Moiseyev and
		his cronies in the Strategic Rocket Forces
		that the Imperialistic Capatalist Dogs aren't
		launching a preemptive strike against the
		Fatherland while the missiles are in the air.
		You'd have SS-18s on their way to the Big
		Apple before you could say Armageddon!


  |\/\/\/\/|
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  /______\            "Don't have a cow, man!"


-shane d deichman