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“We find that the United States today, while talking peace, is developing new generations of nuclear weapons and delivery systems, each more terrifying, more efficient and more lethal than the last, and that the situation in the Soviet Union is much the same. We find policy makers on both sides increasingly ensnared, frustrated and neutralized by domestic forces having a vested interest in strategic inventories. The worldwide arsenal of nuclear warheads continues its astronomical upward spiral.”​—“The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.”

MIRV stands for ‘multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle’; one missile has a number of warheads, each of which can be focused on a different target once the missile is in a general area. The U.S. is said to have already about 7,000 mounted MIRVs. But even though the U.S. seemed to have an advantage when the SALT agreement was signed, that nation was in for a surprise.

The Russians began testing their own MIRVs in 1973, prompting fears that the Soviets might overtake the U.S. But, then, the U.S. countered this action. How?

By introducing MaRV​—the ‘maneuverable reentry vehicle.’ Like MIRV, a number of warheads can be attached to one missile and sent to separate targets. However, the MaRV warheads can be maneuvered to change course during the final part of their flight as they zero in on target.

But the big powers are stocking more than their nuclear weapons. The nonnuclear variety is also proliferating. Recent smaller wars have educated both the East and the West about such arms.

The Nonnuclear Race

In Vietnam, for instance, the U.S. perfected cluster bombs, learning to control their fragmentation pattern. A single cluster bomb dropped from a jet fighter and detonated at an altitude of 600 feet was able effectively to disperse killing fragments over 900 meters (3,000 feet). One F-4 Phantom can include eight of such bombs and, with special racks, may carry as many as fifteen or twenty.

Another weapon that was partially tested in Vietnam was the “glide bomb” or “smart bomb.” In the past, the flight of bombs from an aircraft has depended only on gravity. These newer models, however, are accurately targeted with the help of laser beams or TV.