Documents / FOIA release
This is National Intelligence Estimate 11-5-61, Soviet Technical Capabilities in Guided Missiles and Space Vehicles. It was submitted by the Director of Central Intelligence and concurred in by the United States Intelligence Board on 25 April 1961. The estimate assesses Soviet surface-to-air, antimissile, air-to-air, air-to-surface, ballistic, ICBM, naval and space programs. It concludes that the first Soviet ICBM unit was probably operational around 1 January 1960. It also says there is no evidence the Soviets are developing offensive space weapons. It contains no UFO material.
“The Advance”10 pages
19TOP SECRET C00278407 76. Because of its concurrent development with AS-2 and its greater range, we believe that the AS-3 was designed primarily for use against land targets. With all-inertial guid- ahce, its CEP against such targets would prob- ably be about 1-2 n.m. If used against ships, the AS-3 probably would have to employ in addition a radar terminal homing guidance system which would give a CEP of about 150 feet. In this case, however, either its range would have to be reduced or other aircraft or ships would be required to aid in detection, =1:7n,ui3in. and identification of the target. and possibly in guiding the missile. 77. The AS-3 probably was designed for use with the BEAR and BISON heavy bombers. We estimate that the AS-3 weighs about 9,000- 10,000 pounds. The BEAR or BISON .could carry two on an ‘operational mission. We cal- culate a range degradation of about 8-10 per- cent for these aircraft when carrying one such missile, and 15-20 percent when carrying two. It is possible that the BADGER could carry this missile, but we believe it unlikely that the BADGER would be employed in this role. 78.The Soviets are also capable of developing air-to-surface missiles designed to home on radar transmitters and air-launched decoys to simulate medium or heavy bombers. These systems could now be operational, but there is no evidence of their development. Future Developments 79. We believe that the USSR has a require- ment for and may develop during the period of this estimate an air-launched missile with a maximum range of 500-1,000 n.m. and a higher survival potential than the AS-3. Ei- ther a ballistic or a cruise type missile might be developed to meet this need, and we are unable to estimate its characteristics at this time.
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 101 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.