Two major questions will have important implications for the decisions that the Congress makes about strategic nuclear forces over the next several years. First, the growing vulnerability of the U.S. land-based Minuteman missile force has led to concerns about the future adequacy of the U.S. capability to retaliate against Soviet cities and industrial targets. New weapons might be required to maintain a sufficiently powerful and secure U.S. retaliatory capability. Second, improving Soviet capabilities to attack U.S. land-based missiles have raised the question of whether or not the United States should acquire new weapons capable of destroying Soviet land-based missiles. This budget issue paper, prepared at the request of the Senate Budget Committee, examines how different judgments about these two questions would affect decisions made about the development and procurement of several new weapon systems. Two companion papers, Counterforce Issues for the U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces and Retaliatory Issues for the U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces, provide supporting technical analysis.
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