From: Kerry Miller <ASTINGSH%KSUVM.bitnet@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Subject:      NAVSTAR and the START Treaty
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 22:13:31 GMT


In view of the "tremendous accomplishment" of the START  II, which is
supposed to reduce *land-based* MIRVs, and the recent message:

> People are welcome and encouraged to write to Keith Kjoller who is in
> Lompoc Federal Prison for his action against the NAVSTAR satellite
> system. As reported on in the past, this action was taken because of
> NAVSTAR's critical role in support of all current and future military
> actions ranging from "low-intensity conflict" to missile guidance.

From _Missile Envy_, by Helen Caldicott:

p. 80:  MIRVing: Multiple independently-targetable rentry vehicle. This
system was developed by the US in the 1960s and deployed in 1970. It was
not outlawed by the SALT I treaty because only America could MIRV at that
time... Five years later, the Soviets also had MIRVed warheads...

p 91:  As of 1985, 13 Tridents have been funded, but final construction will
likely call for twenty subs. The Navy has refused to commit itself to a final
production number.

The Trident II, or D-5 missile, will be capable of striking any point on more
than half the earth's surface. Each missile can deliver from 8 to 10
superaccurate MIRVed hydrogen bombs [of 475 Ktons each], each with a
first-strike hard-target counterforce accuracy. Trident IIs will be guided by
the NAVSTAR satellite system, which... is comprised of 21 satellites that
will give a true position in three dimensions within 50 feet, and an actual
velocity within tenths of a foot per second. The missiles navigation
computers willl be updated as it flies, and corrections made by the "bus" just
before each re-entry vehicle or hydrogen bomb is released....

At present, the US Navy is installing an extremely-low-frequency (ELF)
radio transmitter in Michigan. They have already completed a similar
facility in Wisconsin. [80+] Miles of cable are run on poles similar to
power lines, the ends of which are embedded in the earth. The MI and WI
facilities would work as one, constantly pumping millions of watts of
electricity into the granite bedrock of Lake Superior to form a giant
underground antenna. This electrical energy would radiate a constant signal
around the earth and ...serve as a giant beeper, summoning all the submarines
to the surface. [There, existing comm systems could give them their fire
orders.]

p. 138   The American submarine fleet [37 Tridents and Poseidons] carries
5,728 bombs -- almost half the strategic weapons of the US... Satellites can
give good navigation, but the transmit in VHF and UHF. VHF can be
received only if the submarine projects an antenna above the water for three
or four minutes, thereby exposing the subs position. UHF requires exposure
of a mast-mounted dish antenna, which is even more difficult to
camouflage... Therefore the only real use for the fleet ballistic-missile
submarines... is for first strike...

***************
She also discusses "enhanced radiation-reduced blast" weapons, also known
as "neutron bombs," as part of the strategic arms arsenal.  How times change
-- nowadays we call them "depleted-uranium shells" and use them as
"conventional" or "tactical" devices.

kerry miller          astingsh@ksuvm.ksu.edu