The Protracted Conflict

Last month, General Walter Walker, former commander-in-chief, Allied Forces (i.e., NATO) Northern Europe, wrote to the London Times:

“. . . The newest Soviet warhead, the SS-9, is five hundred times more powerful than the United States’ newest warhead, the Poseidon MIRV. If the Soviets choose to run a MIRV race, they could outpower the United States twenty times over. When the United States MIRV their 4-megaton Poseidon, they split it into 50-kiloton warheads, making a total of half a megaton for the missile. The Soviets could MIRV their 25-megaton SS-9 (of which they have three hundred) into ten 1-megaton warheads, making a total of ten megatons per SS-9. To equate these two missiles would be dishonestly to conceal a Soviet advantage of 24,950,000 tons of explosive power.

JB

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James Burnham

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Last month, General Walter Walker, former commander-in-chief, Allied Forces (i.e., NATO) Northern Europe, wrote to the London Times:

“. . . The newest Soviet warhead, the SS-9, is five hundred times more powerful than the United States’ newest warhead, the Poseidon MIRV. If the Soviets choose to run a MIRV race, they could outpower the United States twenty times over. When the United States MIRV their 4-megaton Poseidon, they split it into 50-kiloton warheads, making a total of half a megaton for the missile. The Soviets could MIRV their 25-megaton SS-9 (of which they have three hundred) into ten 1-megaton warheads, making a total of ten megatons per SS-9. To equate these two missiles would be dishonestly to conceal a Soviet advantage of 24,950,000 tons of explosive power.