Tech
The Future of American Defense
U.S. forces were shaped for conflict with a superpower. The emerging multilateral world calls for a smaller, more flexible and far less expensive military
Stories by Kosta Tsipis
Tech
The Verification of Compliance with Arms-Control Agreements
Military activities in the U.S.S.R. can be unilaterally monitored by the U.S. with the aid of a wide spectrum of remote-sensing technologies, including high-resolution satellite photography...
The Sciences
The Uncertainties of a Preemptive Nuclear Attack
It is said that the U.S. needs new land-based missiles because its present ones are vulnerable to attack. Analysis of uncertainties in such an attack suggests that the vulnerability is exaggerated...
Tech
Laser Weapons
Could orbiting lasers defend a nation against missile attack? The technological obstacles are insurmountable; furthermore, such weapons would be vulnerable to simple countermeasures
Sustainability
Catastrophic Releases of Radioactivity
The gravest conceivable accident to a nuclear reactor is far less destructive than the detonation of a nuclear weapon, even if it is imagined that the weapon causes harm only by radiation...
Tech
Land-Based Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
Accurate multiple-warhead missiles are beginning to make fixed ICBM's appear vulnerable to a surprise attack. The proposed U.s. mobile missile, the MX, is viewed as an inappropriate response to the perceived problem...
Tech
Particle-Beam Weapons
It is said that missiles could be shot down by accelerator. Even if such a weapon could be built, which is questionable, it would be ineffective because it would be vulnerable to countermeasures...
Tech
Cruise Missiles
This new category of inexpensive, highly accurate weapons presents a diflicult but not insuperable problem to arms-control negotiators: how to distinguish reliably between strategic and tactical versions...
Tech
The Accuracy of Strategic Missiles
The U.S. has initiated the development of ultra-accurate missiles capable of destroying the land-based missile force of the U.S.S.R. The technology behind the new "counterforce" strategy is reviewed...
