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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Directorate of Intelligence6
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM*
USSR Pushing Ahead Withnissile Def disc's for Moscow
The Soviets are pushing ahead with deployment of antimissile defenses. Probable launch positions now are being constructed at one of tho four ABM electronic sites which form an arc to the north and west of Moscow. The missile has not yet been While there is no evidence of deployment elsowhere, the Soviets can be expected to extend ADM defenses to the same areas where the extonsive deployment of new long-range surface-to-air missile defenses is under way.
by the Office of Current Intelligence and coordinated with OSI, ORR, and ONE.
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the Soviets arc pushing abend with deployment of antinissllc defenses for Moscow.
The deployment program, which began innow includes eight so-called "triad" electronics Installations under construction, each of which will apparontLy control at least eight launchers. The triads are tn pairs at four sites forming an arc around Moscow from the northeast to the southwest. ingle triad was begun southeast of Moscow early in the program, but work on it stopped about two years ago.
Three of tho triads now appear extcrnaLLy complete, with the others in various stages of ' " ight probable launcn positions are being built at one of the completed triads, and there are signs of early construction activity for launch positions at others. At the present construction pace the first triad could be operational by tbe end of this year, and all of the dual triads now being built could be operational
4.
The Galosh is tho
iissne wmcn tne Soviets nave paraded in Moscowfoot canister and which they have claimed is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere "at great distances from the defended
area."
5. It is also possibleissile as yet
ao nave evioenco, nuwevsi,
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suggesting that several different missiles which may be ballistic missile interceptors have been tested at Sary Shagan,fforts there are continuing.
6. Meanwhile, work is nearing completion on two very large radar installations in theUSSR which will provide early warning and inl-tial trackingof incoming ballistic missiles. These radars, nicknamed Hen House, are oriented to cover ICBM approaches from the US to the western part of the Soviet Union, as well as Polaris trajectories from launch areas in the northwestern Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
7. Still aoother likely element indefenses is what appears toargesteerable radar, nicknamedUes southwest ot
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xuiurmatxun can oe proviaecr oy tne Hen Houses as well, but their vulnerable position in theUSSR and the need to ensure the availability of this information for the triads may have led to the location of the Dog House within the Moscow defended area.
8, The Soviet decision at least four years ago to proceed with deployment of this systemwithffort at Sary Shagan reflects an urgent desire for an early ABM capability forwhich apparently overrode the technical andadvantages of waiting for system refinements or new techniques. For example, by settling on the dish-type radars at the triads, the Soviets have placed severe limitations on the ability of the system to handle large numbers of re-entry vehicles and de-coys.
The slow ana uneven pace or the triad construction
program probably has resulted from the need for changes which became evidentrogressed.
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deploymentew Long-range SAM system to defend urban-industrial areas such as Leningrad and the Urals industrial region, it seems reasonable to expect tbe Soviets to extend their ABM defenses to these areas as well to protect then against all forms of strategic attack. 5 tbe Soviets could provide ABM defenses for someoreasuarter of the Soviet population and more than half of Soviet industry.
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Original document.
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