ICBMs Without Nukes: USA's Best New Weapon?
The Department of Defense is designing non-nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles, which could be operational in less than two years. Packed with conventional explosives, they would be able to strike anywhere on the planet within one hour. For some strikes, argue military planners, warplanes and cruise missiles are too slow, too vulnerable to air defenses, and too short range. ICBMs travel above the atmosphere, so they avoid most radar systems and the airspace of countries en route. The U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy have all proposed different versions of "prompt global strike" systems. Some require new, sophisticated technologies, especially for greater in-flight maneuverability. But the military learned how to deliver ICBMs decades ago, so "there's no rocket science left to do," says Tom Collina, research chief at the Arms Control Association in Washington, D.C. Though the new ICBMs would be designed to be distinguishable from the atomic kind, there is a risk that Russia or another power might mistake a nonnuke ICBM strike in a nearby country for a nuclear strike at its homeland. Despite recent moves to appease Russia on missile defenses in Europe, the Obama team is resisting Moscow's calls to stop work on the new ICBMs.
