The Missileer's Thesaurus

The nuclear race has spawned an arcane jargon of its own, one that proliferates as fast as the gadgetry that it describes. A thesaurus of key terms:

U.S. Defensive Systems

SPARTAN: the big-punch, long-range missile in the overall anti-missile defense system called Sentinel. Spartan would be installed at most of the ABM sites as the first line of defense, its mission being to intercept attacking RVs (reentry vehicles, or warheads) while they are still above the atmosphere, hundreds of miles from their targets. Spartan performs a regional, or "area-defense," role.

SPRINT: the short-range partner of Spartan, to be emplaced at some of the sites. Its mission is to attack enemy warheads that have eluded Spartan. Sprint protects a specific locality--a radar installation or offensive-missile complex--and thus functions as "point defense."

PAR (perimeter-acquisition radar): the. highly sophisticated, long-range device that would spot incoming enemy missiles, track them and work in conjunction with

MSR (missile-site radar): a less powerful device than PAR, but one that provides refined, close-in surveillance of targets. MSR would direct the firing of Sprints and Spartans.

SABMIS (seabased ABM Spartan-or Sprint-type weapons): a concept, now in an early phase of study, that involves mounting defensive missiles on surface vessels so as to intercept enemy warheads before the landbased defensive system could reach them. Among its advantages is the possibility of destroying an enemy missile before it could scatter a number of separate warheads and decoys.

ABMIS: the airborne equivalent of SABMIS, now at an earlier stage of study. It would attempt mid-course interception of enemy missiles with projectiles fired from large cruising aircraft. One of its special missions would be to guard against submarine-launched missiles.

U.S. Attack Missiles

MIRV (multiple independent re-entry vehicle): the newest thing in offensive missiles, now under development by the U.S. It will be at least two years before models are operational. The main innovation is that each missile will be able to carry several separate nuclear warheads--as many as ten in the submarine-borne version, and three in the land-based model. Each warhead will be assigned to a different target. Thus, MIRV would increase the nuclear punch severalfold without escalating the number of delivery missiles.

MINUTEMAN: the basic U.S. land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which accounts for 1,000 of the 1,054 birds now deployed. The Minuteman series, housed in underground silos to protect the missiles against damage in the event of nuclear attack, is propelled by solid fuel and can be fired 32 seconds after the GO order.

POLARIS: the submarine-borne offensive missile, of which there are now 656 deployed in 41 vessels. They have a shorter range and smaller payload than the Minuteman series, but operate from mobile launching platforms that can generally evade detection while cruising. Three-quarters of the Polaris missiles are scheduled to be replaced during the early '70s with Poseidons, which will have MIRV capability.

WS 120 (for weapons system): the post-Minuteman series of land-based offensive weapons, which would have greater range, accuracy and payload.

Soviet Systems

GALOSH: the NATO code for the Soviet defensive missile, which is already partially emplaced around Moscow. It is considered comparable to the Nike-Zeus, which the U.S. ruled inadequate for operational use.

SCRAG, or SS-11: the missile that comprises more than half of the Soviet land-based intercontinental missile force of nearly 1,000. It is powered by liquid fuel and is therefore slower to react than the solid-fueled American ICBM. It has a shorter range (5,500 miles) but a far larger warhead (up to five megatons).

SAVAGE, or SS-13: the latest Russian ICBM and the first to employ solid fuel. In range, payload and accuracy, it is considered roughly equivalent to the U.S.'s already outdated Minuteman I. The Russians, so far as is known, are not yet testing U.S. -style MIRVs. They have been experimenting with the simpler re-entry vehicles (MRV), in which the separate warheads carried by one missile cannot be assigned to separate specific targets.

FOBS (fractional-orbit bombardment system): a system for delivering warheads from a vehicle making a partial orbit of the earth. Since the vehicle would have a relatively low trajectory (under 100 miles), it might evade detection by conventional radar, thus reducing the defense's warning time to a bare three minutes. ICBMs normally travel a very high course, thus becoming visible to high-angle radar. FOBS would come in under the radar. Otherwise FOBS would function like an ordinary warhead-bearing device. The U.S. discarded FOBS at an early stage of development as inaccurate. The Russians are continuing to work on their version.

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