Time is running out for the United States. Just two months ago, Robert Gates, Deputy Director of the CIA, confirmed reports that the Soviets were constructing three more huge phased-array radars in the western USSR. These mammoth radars, each as large as a football field, close the final gap in the network of radars guarding the missile corridors into the Soviet Union.
Some analysts say the Soviet radar network is intended for early warning. However, the radars have a combination of size and power that goes far beyond early-warning requirements. They have the range and angular precision needed to get an accurate track on an oncoming warhead, figure out which target the warhead is headed for, and alert ABM launch sites in the warhead’s path so they can send up missiles to intercept it. In fact, they have all the properties of “battle management” radars designed for an ABM defense of Soviet territory.
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