Behind the Scowcroft report - The MX saga

A development history is presented for the MX ICBM, with emphasis on the major Soviet ICBM development and deployment trends which prompted its conception and on the political and diplomatic considerations which alternatively encouraged and hampered its acceptance in various bodies of government and the military. Attention is given to the findings of the Scowcroft Commission report of 1983, whose recommendations were criticized by technical commentators for being unduly influenced by nontechnical considerations. The major technical issue, however, that of the basing mode for the missile, is still being debated. The basing of the MX in a modified Minuteman silo has nevertheless already been determined to offer the least expensive and most environmentally benign of the basing options.