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

BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE
years. Then, in 1963, the Soviets stopped work around
Leningrad and by the end of 1964 abandoned these sites. 25
The Soviets began work on a successor to the Griffon in the
mid-1950s. Code-named Galosh (ABM-1) by NATO, it was a
much larger missile than the Griffon and larger than the
ICBMs it was intended to intercept outside the atmosphere
(fig. 84). Western intelligence first detected it in early 1964 and
two years later noted 64 deployed in four sites in a ring about
40–50 miles from the center of Moscow. The United States believed
it had limitations similar to the Nike-Zeus: it could only
engage a limited number of ICBMs and was vulnerable to nuclear
blackout. It achieved initial operational capability (IOC)
in 1968 and was fully operational in 1970. 26
US intelligence detected the construction in northwestern
Russia of another potential ABM site called Tallinn in 1963–64.
The Defense Intelligence Agency thought this system had ABM
capabilities, although there were those in both military intelligence
and the Central Intelligence Agency who believed it was
an antibomber defense system. If it did have ABM capabilities,
Figure 84. Galosh 1. The Soviets deployed the Galosh in four sites in a
ring around Moscow. It was fully operational in 1970. (Reprinted from
Department of Defense.)
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