United States yearbook - 1982 (1)

3 5 8 National Defense and Veterans Affairs
No, 588. S u m m a r y o f M a j o r M il i t a r y F o rc e s : I 9 6 0 t o 1 9 8 1
[As of June 30 except, beginning 1977, as of Sept. 30]
DESCRIPTION 1960 1985 1970 1975 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981
Department of the Army:
Divisions............................................... 14 18 16 14 16 16 16 16 16
Maneuver battalions............................... (wt> 178 191 148 166 166 167 168 168
Air defense battallons/batteries............. . 268 227 195 147 150 157 161 154 150
Special forces groups............................. - 7 6 3 4 4 3 3 3
Total aircraft.......... ................................ 5,564 7,142 12,166 9,517 6,323 8,887 8,625 8,731 8,846
Department ot the Navy:
Ship operating force............................... 900 1,020 847 577 543 531 532 538 550
Active fleet.................................. ...... 812 936 769 496 472 464 468 473 482
Auxiliaries and sealift'...................... . - 2 5 18 11 10 10 15 22
Naval reserve force............................ 88 82 73 63 60 57 54 50 46
Tactical air squadrons 104 113 88 79 69 65 61 61 61
Antisubmarine air squadrons *................. 29 31 20 10 19 22 21 22 22
Marine divisions........................... 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Marine aircraft combat squadrons:
Fixed-wing squadrons.. 3 7 36 32 31 30 3 0 30 3 0 30
Rotary-wing squadrons........................ 12 16 21 19 19 18 20 2 4 25
Total aircraft........................................... 11,272 9,725 6,646 7,035 6,593 6,359 6,050 6,050 5,983
Department of the Air Force:
ICBM launchers............................. ........ 5 654 1,054 1,054 1,054 1,054 1,054 1,054 1,053
Selected aircraft squadrons..................... 280 219 181 126 127 130 129 125 127
Strategic............................................ 142 65 33 28 26 26 26 26 26
Air defense........................................ . 65 39 17 7 6 6 6 6 5
Tactical (excluding air-lift)................... . 73 115 131 91 95 96 97 93 96
Total aircraft........................................... 21,283 16,487 14,983 10,736 10,140 10,022 10,062 10,116 10,248
Active................................................ . 18,351 14,668 13,545 9,336 9,256 9,138 8,959 9,066 9,272
- Represents zero. NA Not available. ‘Includes Special Mission. 7Does not Include patrol squadrons.
Source: U.S. Dept, of Defense, releases and unpublished data.
No. 589. Es t im a t e d U.S, St r a t e g ic N u c lea r F o r c e s : 1978
[Present force; estimated as of January 1978. U.$. strategic nuclear forces consist of three parts: land-based intercontinental
ballistic missiles (ICBM a), long-range bombers, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM’s). Together these three parts
are known as the TRIAD. There is fairly wide agreement among various unclassified estimates of U.S. nuclear forces. For ICBM
and “lBM figures, see Thomas J. Downey, “How to Avoid Monad and Disaster," F o re ig n P o lic y , Fall 1976; Statement of the
Honorable Robert L Leggett, V la d iv o s to k A c c o rd : Im p lic a tio n s to U .S . S e c u rity, A rm s C o n tro l, a n d W o rid P e a c e , Hearings before
ins Subcommittee on International Security of the House Committee on International Relations, 94:1 (June-July 1975), pp. 8-14;
and Kosfa Tsfpis, “The Accuracy of Strategic Missiles," S c ie n tific A m e ric a n , July 1975, p. 190. Mlnuteman III CEP of 700 ft (see
:r !ans Cold-Launch ICBMs." A v ia tio n W e e k a n d S p a c e T e c h n o lo g y , February 4,1974, p. 14) assumes the more accurate
deployed. For bomber estimates, see Arctiie L Wood, “Modernizing the Strategic Bomber Force
without Ream'Trying—A Case Against the 0-1," In te rn a tio n a l S e c u rity, Fall 1976, and Alton H. Quanbeck and Archie L. Wood,
M o d e rn tu n g th e S tra te g ic B o m b e r F o rc e (The Brookings Institution. 1976), p. 36]
LAUNCHER
Number
Warheads
per
launcher
Total
warheads
Yield in
megatons 1
Total
megatons
Equivalent
megatons 3
Reliability
Circular
error
probable3
(feet)
ICBMSp total............................ . 1,054 (X) 2,154
450
550
1,650
54
SLBMs, total............................ 656
5,120
160
160
496 10
390
B-52 G/H...................................
B 52 D........................................
FB-111 a...................................
2,100 9,854 3,179 3,760