Move MX Missiles Out to Sea

The United States has spent billions of dollars since the end of World War II for both military and space rocket vehicles. Rockets themselves are costly, but so are the extensive facilities required to launch them. The aboveground assembly buildings, blockhouses, launch pads, and gantries at Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral have their underground counterparts in the Minuteman and Titan missile fields of the Western states.

The Carter Administration has approved for development a new strategic deterrent system, the MX Linear Grid. The full impact of emplacing MX missiles and their extensive support facilities in the states of Utah and Nevada is only beginning to be recognized, and public opposition to their deployment is mounting. The project would be the largest public works effort ever undertaken by mankind—dwarfing even the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids of Egypt.

JD

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John E. Draim

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The United States has spent billions of dollars since the end of World War II for both military and space rocket vehicles. Rockets themselves are costly, but so are the extensive facilities required to launch them. The aboveground assembly buildings, blockhouses, launch pads, and gantries at Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral have their underground counterparts in the Minuteman and Titan missile fields of the Western states.

The Carter Administration has approved for development a new strategic deterrent system, the MX Linear Grid. The full impact of emplacing MX missiles and their extensive support facilities in the states of Utah and Nevada is only beginning to be recognized, and public opposition to their deployment is mounting. The project would be the largest public works effort ever undertaken by mankind—dwarfing even the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids of Egypt.