SOVIET ORBITAL BOMB Pressure Expected For U.S. Defence

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31519, 6 November 1967, Page 13

SOVIET ORBITAL BOMB Pressure Expected For U.S. Defence

(N.Z. Press Association— Copyright! WASHINGTON, November 5. The Sentinel system, to be deployed against a Chinese nuclar missile threat, is expected to be capable of intercepting and destroying orbital bombs of the type Rusia is developing, the Associated Press reports.

A United States Defence Department official replied with a terse “yes” when asked today whether the anti-missile system would have the capability of intercepting warheads launched at the United States by satellite - type orbital weapons.

gations of United States missile defences and stragetic weapons as a result of the

Senator Stennis has frequently criticised Mr McNamara for undestimating Soviet

newly-revealed Soviet feat Senator Jackson said the military applications sub-com-mittee of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy would take up the Soviet development at previously-scheduled hearings on United States stategic weapons posture opening on Monday. Senator Jackson, a Washington Democrat, is chairman of the sub-com-mittee. The sources said there was no immediate public outcry from Congressmen over Mr McNamara’s announcement, chiefly because key committees had been secretly briefed on the Soviet development for several weeks. But many key members were privately not accepting Mr McNamara’s lack of alarm over the development of what is called here a fractional orbital bombardment system (F. 0.8.5. Senator John Stennis’s Senate Preparedness Investigation Sub-committee has been studying F. 0.8.5. for about two months as a result of a periodic review of the United States straetgic weapons stance, Congressional sources said.

capabilities and now that the F. 0.8.5. is out in the open, it is expected to add fuel to this controversy. Mr McNamara sought in his announcement to counter any fear of United States vulnerability to a Soviet orbital weapon. He said the space bomb, unlike a ballistic missile, was not accurate enough for satisfactory use against United States offensive missile sites, the prime deterrent against a Soviet nuclear attack. He said he thought the F. 0.8.5. was designed for use against bases in the United States nuclear bomber fleet. Furthermore, he said, the advantage that the F. 0.8.5. could avoid early detection by the United States missile warning system was being offset hy the installation of new radar installations which could scan over the horizon. Freighter Aground.—The U.S. Navy yesterday rescued 22 of the crew of the British freighter Habib Marikar when it ran aground on Lincoln Island, 400 miles south-south-west of Hong Kong.—(Hong Kong, Nov. 5.)

But the Pentagon declined any further discussion of such a capability on the grounds that the details were secret.

The anti-missile system will not be ready for three or four years—and the Soviet orbital bomb may be operational next year.

Disclosure that Russia is in the advanced stage of testing the space bomb is almost certain to bring stronger pressure on the Johnson Administration to build a more extensive defence than the Sentinel system. The Sentinel, formerly known as the Nike X would provide what the technicians call a thin umbrella shield for the United States against the relatively light and unsophisticated kind of missile attack that China is expected to he able to unleash in the early 19705. N.Z.P.A-Reuter said Senator Henary Jackson today announced the first of what Congressional sources said would be intensified investi-