From: nuny@bid.nes   
      
   On Saturday, July 1, 2023 at 1:34:07 PM UTC-7, trident wrote:   
   > Hello, (the topic is for everyone, but especially for Mark L. Fergerson, if   
   he is at liberty to answer the question :) )    
   >    
   > The question is as in the topic but it, also refers to more general issues.   
   As we know Russia/USSR deployed land >mobile ICBM's. Appparently some of them   
   are on patrol at any given time ( there is controversy here, some say >START   
   actually forbids    
   deployment outside bases/maintenance facilities, others disagree). The US   
   however >abstained from such a move.    
   >   
      
   I have no current information on the topic nor do I know for sure whether or   
   not the US abandoned the method as was publicly announced some time ago.   
      
   From first principles it would be foolish not to use such a system for the   
   reasons it was proposed to begin with; primarily, reducing the likelihood of   
   being hit in a first strike.   
      
   However both the US and Russia have far better satellite surveillance systems   
   than when the idea was first proposed, and the mobile launchers are very   
   difficult, if not impossible, to disguise from overhead view. They are also   
   relatively slow, so their    
   future possible positions are easier to predict from multiple satellite   
   observations. That is due to their being restricted to purpose built   
   “racetrack” roads rather than using remote segments of the interstate   
   highways. Recall the latter was part of    
   the original proposal but was rejected due to potential blockage by civilian   
   traffic accidents (or sleepers deliberately blocking them). Dedicated   
   racetracks would be much easier to keep clear but also much more expensive to   
   maintain, which maintenance    
   costs would have (to actually address the question) included dedicated   
   snowplow fleets.   
      
   Are we doing this right now? Can’t say, but recall that adding another leg   
   to the tripod of ICBMs, bombers and boomers was criticized as an unnecessary   
   expense. On the other hand the military budget always includes billions for   
   “black” projects    
   that once started tend to live on by inertia.   
      
   My intuition says yes, the program is ongoing, the visibility issue was   
   somehow resolved, and a bunch of somebodies drive those roads with snowplows   
   all winter long.   
      
      
   Mark L, Fergerson   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)