title: Air force takes aim at a big bird.
abstract: Early this year, the U.S. land-based force of nuclear missiles became vulnerable to destruction in a preemptive attack by the Soviet Union. The Air Force has worried about this situation for a long time, searching high and low for a better place to put both the existing silo-based missiles and a new missile, the MX. The first article in this series examined the reasons that U.S. officials became alarmed about missile vulberability, and the second examined the short-term plan to put missiles into silos. This article explores the Ait Force's least favourite long-term basing mode. Subsequent articles will explore the alternatives.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Smith