Military Monday with USNI Press Author Steven Pomeroy

By the 1970s, strategic weapons planners were attempting to find new ways to maintain survivable and credible deterrence forces. Submarines carrying ballistic missiles and bombers armed with gravity bombs and cruise missiles were survivable enough, but land-based ballistic missiles in silos were rapidly becoming vulnerable to new, highly accurate strategic weapons. The Soviet Union began to invest in rail and truck-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), but US plans for similar ICBM basing schemes never came to fruition. Why is an important question today, as America finally begins a long overdue modernization of its strategic deterrent forces. So a look back at the basing schemes and arguments of the 1970s is both a valid and important discussion as plans go forth for a new generation of US ICBMs.

To learn more about the development and history of US strategic weapons basing, tune into this week's edition of Military Monday (#MilitaryMonday on the Writestream Radio Network (@Writestream)) at 1 PM EST. Author, historian, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and host John D. Gresham (@greshamj01) has invited respected U.S. Naval Institute Press (@USNIBooks) author Steven Pomeroy to discuss his new book, A ROAD UNTAKEN. A ROAD UNTAKEN is a detailed examination and history of mobile ICBM basing studies and decisions in the 1970s, and their relevance today.