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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, FEBRUARY 28, 1986
PAGE 9
total now carried by France's older fleet of five submarines, equipped
with single-warhead rockets. The warheads from just this one long-range
submarine alone are capable of destroying the heart of Soviet industry and
most major Soviet cities! Just how significant has been the growth of the
French and British forces was revealed in an article in the Summer 1984
edition of the journal FOREIGN POLICY.
The period of West European strategic irrelevancy is over.
Both Great Britain and France are on the verge of nuclear
build-ups, ambitious enough to turn either one into the
world's third nuclear superpower•••• For 35 years NATO's West
European members depended on the superior nuclear forces of
the United States for deterrence and for their ultimate
defense•••• However, the SALT [Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks] process greatly reduced West Europeans' certainty that
Washington would be willing to risk nuclear war to defend
them•••• Today, not only have West Europeans lost confidence
in the American deterrent but they also fear increased Soviet
capabilities and perhaps new aggressiveness in the crucial
decade ahead. As a result of these fears, Great Britain and
France plan to increase their old force of roughly 300 land
and sea-based missile warheads to at least 1,200 warheads at a
cost of roughly $50 billion.
Eventually, Great Britain will deploy four submarines, each
with 16 Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles
(SLBMs). Each of these missiles can reportedly carry between
8 and 17 Trident II warheads. France will field seven missile
firing submarines with � total of 592 warheads and an
unspecified number of SX missiles, new Mirage 2000-N strategic
bombers, Mirage IVP bombers, and Super-Etandard attack planes.
This array of weapons will cost Great Britain more than $20
billion and France an estimated $30 billion••••
One fully equipped Ohio-class Trident submarine, the newest
addition to the U.S. submarine fleet, is the most awesome
deterrent ever created by man, possessing the capability to
destroy every large- and medium-sized Soviet city•••• The
longer range of the Trident II missile fleet will permit the
submarines to roam over wider expanses of ocean, thus making
them more difficult to track and attack•••• According to a
study published by Cornell University in 1976, about one
fourth of the Soviet population and one-half of its industry
are concentrated in its 100 largest cities. Thus the warheads
of one British submarine firing Trident II missiles could
eliminate the USSR as a major power••••
The Soviets may fear that France might also be the beneficiary
of American nuclear generosity. Despite popular belief, the
United States has provided some assistance to the French
nuclear weapons program.
[France, reported the February 3,
1985 SUNDAY NEWSDAY of Long Island, NY, acquired several U.S.
made Cray I supercomputers to help in its nuclear weapons
systems design. The U.S. also supplied advanced electronics
gear to help the French communicate with their strategic
underwater fleet.] ••••