Potential of LoAD Ballistic Missile Defense System for Protecting the MX Missile System

Under the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks II Treaty (SALT II), the possibility exists for an increased threat to U.S. land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) by the Soviet Union. To offset additional increases in this threat, the initial MX system could be expanded by deploying more MX missiles and shelters. If the threat continues, the Department of Defense (DOD) could either expand the MX system and defend the existing MX missiles with a ballistic missile defense system. To provide the option for defending U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), the Army is conducting a preprototype demonstration of a ballistic missile defense system called the low-altitude defense (LoAD) system. The program's goal is to provide the capability for deploying LoAD soon after the preprototype demonstration is completed. Deploying LoAD would require terminating or modifying the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which sharply limits the United States' and the Soviet Union's development and deployment of ballistic missile defense systems.