N-campaigners watch for MX splashdown

Press, 29 May 1985, Page 12

N-campaigners watch for MX splashdown

NZPA-AAP Hobart Broad Ocean Area Three (BOA-3) is a patch of water north-west of Tasmania, apparently no different from the rest of the Tasman Sea. Its significance lies below the waves, where sonar transponders have been laid to monitor the splashdowns of 10 MX missile warheads. Almost four years after the site was nominated by a United States defence committee, and six months after Australia’s involvement first became known, the first test in the area has still apparently not taken place. Australia initially agreed to provide limited logistical support for the tests, but backed away from that commitment after domestic political pressure. According to the best guess of Jim Falk, the antinuclear campaigner who first publicised the site, no tests are now likely for at least six months. But Dr Falk believes the tests will happen one day. How will Australians know when they do, and what will happen then?

The first false alarm, sounded at a Palm Sunday anti-nuclear rally in Brisbane, was traced to faulty information from observers in California, where the MX will be launched. If their advice was all the information available there might be only a brief warning of the MX’s approach. According to Australian Democrat Senator-elect Norm Sanders, who has worked on missile guidance systems, the flight of the MX would take about 30 minutes.

Dr Falk said a warning was much more likely to come in official notices to shipping and aircraft to stay clear of BOA-3.

“Statements are routinely issued for ships and aircraft to enter areas at their own risk,” he said. “There are a whole series of such warnings, and we have people watching them.”

Since the Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, withdrew Australian support facilities for test to BOA-3, anti-nuclear advocates have been considering how the United States will monitor splashdowns. Dr Sanders speculated

that advanced range aircraft would fly from an American base in the Pacific to coincide with the splashdowns. The aircraft, together with United States ships in the area, would pick up information from instruments on the warheads and in the monitoring buoys. Dr Falk expected the United States would give around 24 hours notice of the event.

This was unlikely to enable anti-nuclear campaigners to organise a protest in the area, although plans were being drawn up. Campaigners in Australia and New Zealand had discussed sending a flotilla into BOA-3 with the aim of halting the test, Dr Falk said. But severe logistical problems are seen for small craft in these waters, which are infrequently used by ships. “It’s just not practical to take a yacht out there and sit around waiting for a few months,” Dr Sanders said. “Those waters can get very rough and you soon tire of getting pounded.”