Keeping Up

Even as U.S. cruise missiles were being delivered to Greenham Common last week, the authoritative Jane's Defense Review, a London publication, confirmed that the Soviet Union was expected to deploy its own advanced version next year. This would presumably be part of the "military countermeasures" that the U.S.S.R. has threatened to undertake. Like the U.S.'s Tomahawk, says the Review, the Soviet SS-NX-21 will have a range of 1,500 miles and a warhead of 200 kilotons. Unlike the Tomahawk ground-launched cruise missiles that are now being deployed in Western Europe, the Soviet missile can also be launched from submarines and aircraft. (The U.S. already has a different model of cruise missile that can be delivered by bombers, and another that can be launched from surface ships.) The Pentagon, which has been leaking reports of the forthcoming Soviet SS-NX-21 for almost two years, is concerned about the new development. Although the Soviets have had sea-launched cruise missiles for more than two decades, they were short-range weapons; one typical early model, the 1958 SSN2 STYX, had a range of only 26 miles. More recent versions could hit targets at up to 350 miles but were considered inaccurate at long distances. The improved weapon, according to Jane's, was built with information and microelectronic technology smuggled in from the West. It could be put on submarines patrolling the American coastline. In anticipation of that threat, the U.S. has already established especially sensitive surveillance radar systems on both the East and West coasts, and plans to install another next year in Georgia and a fourth in Texas. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.