JohnnyComeLately's Journal: End of 10 Nuke warhead ICBM

The AF has decommissioned the last of the Peacekeeper missiles. This was an ICBM that could put 10 nuclear, megaton warheads into just about any continent in the world in a matter of minutes. For those who don't know the cold war history, it was our counter to Russia who surpassed us in the # of warheads per ICBM.

SALT I tried to limit the number of nukes and warheads, and President Carter gave away the farm with SALT II. Reagan was wise enough to realize the SALT II put us at a severe disadvantage (in terms of deterrence). GWB finally pulled us practically all the way out with deploying a test ICBM intercept program on the west coast (US Army runs it at Vandenberg AFB). In my opinion, we needed it because North Korea is right around the corner from the capability to plant a nuke in San Diego. Sure the program has some issues, but most do when they're new (reference: Osprey, Patriot, etc).

Since pulling out, we were also able to upgrade the 1950's era mechanical radar up in Alaska. Now we have a much better Phased Array system watching our eastern neighbors.

Just thought I'd share.