ABM SYSTEM CONTRACTS TO BE LET IN 6 MONTHS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000300100081-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2006
• Sequence Number: 81
• Publication Date: September 21, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 2006/01/30 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300100081-5
Big Companies to Get Hefty Slice of Work
ABM System Contracts
To Be Let In 6 Months
By George C. Wilson
Washington Post staff writer
First big contracts to start production
of the anti-ballistic-missile system will
be awarded in about six months, Fenta-
gon officials said yesterday.
Funding for the $5 billion anti-ballistle-
missile (ABM) defense announced on Mon-
day will probably not jump above the bil-
lion dollar mark until late 1968 or early 1969.
Reason is that it will take some time to
gear up for prdouction. Engineering draw-
ings and special tooling can be financed
from money now available for the ABM.
President Johnson put $377 million in his
current (fiscal 1968) budget to start the ABM
production in case missile freeze talks with
Russia failed.
Pre-Production Step
Besides that $377 million, the Pentagon
can draw down the $177 million Congress
appropriated last year to finance the pre-
production step. Defense Secretary Robert
S. McNamara lead refused to take that step
until Monday.
Since it will take a good year to eat up
the money already on hand, President John-
son next January could avoid putting a big
chunk of money into his election year, fiscal
1969 budget.
His alternative would be to declare that
additional money would be requested from
the Congress once the figures were refined
in the light of production experience.
The Pentagon has declined to say how
many missiles it will buy with the $5 billion.
But spokesmen there yesterday did state
that $3.5 billion of the total would go for
the Spartan and $1.5 billion for the Sprint
system.
Spartan is the long-range anti-billistic-
missile under development. It would carry
a hydrogen bomb more than 400 miles from
the launching pad, exploding it out in space
in the path of the enemy missile.
Improved Nike Zeus Version
Spartan is an improved version of Nike
Zeus. Douglas Aircraft Co., recently merged
with McDonnell Aircraft, is building Spartan
under a contract from Bell Telephone Lab-
oratories (a division of AT&T), the overall
manager of the ABM system known as
Nike X.
Sprint is the short range missile-the sec-
ond line of defense. It is designed to whoosh
up and hit any warheads which might get
through the Spartan net. Martin-Marietta
Corp. makes the Sprint. The firm already
has received about $250 million from the
Pentagon for its Sprint work.
Even more complicated than the anti-
missile-missiles themselves are the eyes of
the ABM system. Big radars will be put
along the U.S.-Canadian border to detect
and track any missiles flying toward the
U.S. from either China or Russia.
Smaller Radar Guides
Other smaller radars will guide the Spar-
tan and Sprint missiles to their targets. The
guidance network also includes tremendous-
ly complicated and expensive computers.
Besides Bell Telephone Labs, Martin-Mari-
etta and McDonnell Douglas-here are other
big firms which are expected to get hefty
slices of the Nike X business over the next
five years as the United States moves its
missile defense from development to pro-
duction:
Aerojet-General Corp. - Developed gas
generator which pops Sprint out of its un-
derground silo; makes solid propellant for
missiles.
General Electric - Developed high fre-
quency radar for ABM.
Raytheon Co. - Responsible for Missile
Site Radar which guides Spartan and Sprint
to their targets. Company also is working on
the larger multi-function array radar which
detects and tracks attacking missiles.
Sperry Rand-Has been given the job of
building the computer brains of the ABM.
These Univac computers sift through the
information gathered by the detection radars
and then tell the missiles how to respond.
Thiokol Corp.-Expected to make solid
propellants for Spartan.
Western E l e c t r i c - As manufacturing
prime contractor on Nike X, this arm of
AT&T will receive major share of business.
Approved For Release 2006/01/30 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300100081-5