Show j By U.S. Senator Hatch WHAT 10 oli T in With a new SALT II agreement now on the the topic of na- defense once become a hotly debated this time in the Congress 0 meeting in The m.-jor question that must be answered by this debate pertains to the ability of the United States to survive a by the Soviet and then This ability must be both real and apparent if it is to be a deterrent to The ques- tion of the survivability of the United States' land-based strategic defense system then becomes the major It is acknowledged that the Minuteman ICBM will become to a Soviet strike by Unless the U.S. can overcome this there will be nothing to prevent the Soviets from abrogating a SALT agreement and the U.S. with its more powerful strategic The answer to this dilemma is a missile for the U.S. the or Missile This a capable of in- Acting great damage upon i s Its uniqueness is its The construction and assembly of the MX could be done by at least two Utah Her- cules andor Many different approaches have been advanced for deployment of the missile including everything from secret tunnels in the Southwest to long trenches along which the MX could be Perhaps the idea receiving the attention recently is the approach of hav- ing many silos for each missile to pre- vent The silo program s known as the Multiple Aim Points System and is widely regarded among defense experts as an acceptable Unfortunately the Carter Ad- ministration has turned down every variation of i the my MX concept nn on the basis of estimated price tag of a MAPS system would be to In the the Administration has failed to present any viable alternatives to overcome the projected U.S. This is not to that the dent has not proposed other For the latest tion proposal is to load ICBM's on air- deploy them to strategic and in the time of crisis move the plans to smaller landing strips where the missiles could be Without taking into account the lapse of time for effective retaliation through this the cost of the program was projected at sur- to Other suggestions Have ICBM's loaded on trucks which would move throughout the nation on our highway Equip aircraft with the capability o launching ICBM s from the Deploy hard to detect sub- with two or three of the missiles in around the U.S. Each of these ideas raises questions of security andor ac- the MX MAPS system is the most feasible Whether this plan is acceptable to the Administration or if tha dent is to maintain U.S. a new missile system must be The ball is in his and the game may already be |