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Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

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BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE<br />

Figure 82. Sprint.The Sprint missile was the short-range component <strong>of</strong><br />

the American ABM system. It was a high-acceleration missile designed<br />

<strong>to</strong> destroy incoming warheads that eluded the Spartan. (Reprinted from<br />

http://www.brook.educ/FP/projects/nucwcost/sprint.htm.)<br />

more resistant <strong>to</strong> nuclear blackout than the existing radar<br />

that operated in the VHF spectrum. This system also had greater<br />

power and thus greater range. The Army awarded the radar<br />

contract <strong>to</strong> Raytheon in December 1963. 23<br />

In the early and mid-1960s, the rationale for the ABM system<br />

expanded in two different directions. The first was <strong>to</strong> provide<br />

protection for US strategic forces. The military began <strong>to</strong> study<br />

this issue in 1963–64 and in November 1965 concentrated on<br />

the defense <strong>of</strong> hardened ICBM sites. 24 The other effort that began<br />

in February 1965 was <strong>to</strong> look at the problem <strong>of</strong> Nth country<br />

threats, that is, nuclear-armed missiles possessed by countries<br />

other than the Soviet Union. (The decision makers recognized<br />

that defending against a massive Soviet missile attack would be<br />

extremely difficult, if not impossible, whereas a defense against<br />

188

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