KHRUSHCHEV'S LATEST STATEMENT ON SOVIET MISSILE CAPABILITIES

Created: 1/21/1960

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

KHRUSHCHEV'S LATEST STATEMENT ON SOVIET MISSILE CAPABILITI

Premier Khrushchev's most recent statement on Soviet missile capabilities, made onanuary at tbe opening of the USSR Supreme Soviet, Is the most comprehensive officialto date of the coming dominance of missile armaments in the Soviet military The speech gives his vie* that these new weapons are replacing more conventional ones.

Khrushchev said, "Wehave so many nuclear weapons, both atonic andand the necessary rockets for delivering thesee would be ableto wipe tbe country orwhich attack us off the face of the earth." At tbe Hungarian party congress In Budapest onovettber,said the Soviet Uniontockpile of rockets with nuclear warheads sufficient "to raze to tbe ground all our potentlal enenies

Both these statements are general and give no indication

of tbe quantities that might be involved. Therereat difference between the smaller stockpile of missiles required to destroy the major cities of tbe West and the greaternecessary to attackand destroy Westernforces.

One of the few statementsough numerical estimate of Soviet Intentions Is Khrushchev's remark into Austrian ForeignKreisky that the cost of shifting froma menta to long-range missiles had been estimated by hisadvisers to beillion rubles. It is probable that expenditure of theillion rubles, if Indeed this were an approved program, would be madeeriod of some five or six years, or to the end of the Seven-Year. Such an expenditure algbtthe USSR to produce and have on launcher by that timeCHMs andRBMs (with ranges nautical

NOTESf 20

Over the past yearhaseries of statements designed to create Id western eyes the impressionapid growth of Soviet military might In the missile field. In8 he claimed in his "Theses on the Seven-Year Plan" that theof intercontinental ballistic missiles has been set up successfully." Thisthat initial tooling of ICBM production facilities had recently been completed, that the technology of production was considered mastered and probably had been demonstrated, and that initial delivery of stockpile ICBMs was about to begin.

If it was an accurateof the status of the program at that time, this statement would haveapability to beginof such missiles earlyevelopment implied by Khrushchev's second majoron ICBM production, made att party congress In He then stated that serial production of Inter-continental ballistic rockets had been organized.

Accordingext on aircraftthere are three stages involved inew item Into serial production: for production; mastery of the processed ofby the production line; and serial production andof modifications. claim in November 8 would Imply that the second stage had been achieved, and the statement in9 would suggest that allfor the third stage had been completed.

Even if serial production were successfully organized at the beginningswished to imply, initial rates of production would be low and production wouldgradually during the year The USSR, therefore, could not yet have been able to achieve production and deployment of large numbers of ICBMs.

mall stockpile of perhaps tenIs, enough to attack several key US urbanbelieved to exist. Moreover, Khrushchev's recent statement, arge current missilecannot be wholly In that the USSR probably has had sufficient time to possess significant numbersautical-mlle missiles andautical-milecapable of reachingIn Western Europe and other peripheral areas.

Onpeech to 3ovlet Journalists which cannot logically beto his previous ICBMKhrushchev said, "In oneissiles with hydrogen warheads came off the assembly line In the factory wevailable evidenceain that, among the longer range missiles, onlyautlcal-mlle weapon has been in production long enough to permit achievement ofroduction rate. Khrushchev's statement also could be true if it referred to the combinedof several missile types at_one plant.

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Original document.

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