Reagan Plans to Add to Nuclear Arsenal : Decides to Ask for 500 Midgetman, 50 MX Missiles

President Reagan, moving to expand modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, decided today to step up work on a small, single-warhead missile and also buy 50 more giant MX missiles to be placed on railroad cars and shuttled from base to base in times of crisis.

A written White House statement and Pentagon officials said the small missile, nicknamed the Midgetman, would be mounted on mobile launchers, either at existing missile bases or “in random movement.”

Calling the MX and Midgetman programs “an integrated package” in the President’s plan to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons force, the statement mentioned no numbers of new weapons to be produced.

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But Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles A. May, a top official in the modernization program, told Pentagon reporters that the Administration intended to ask Congress for another 50 MX missiles and up to 500 of the smaller Midgetman weapons.

Under the President’s plan, the MX missiles would be deployed on rail cars in hopes of overcoming congressional concerns about the weapons’ survivability. The train launchers would be scrambled from Air Force bases over the regular commercial rail network in the event of a crisis.

The Midgetman missile already is being developed as a mobile weapon, to be carried on specially configured truck launchers.

The two programs, if approved by Congress, could cost as much as $65 billion and would signal a marked shift in the United States’ policy of nuclear deterrence.

A First for U.S.

Unlike the Soviet Union, the United States has never deployed a mobile, land-based intercontinental missile, relying instead on underground silos.

Reagan was said to have made his decision final this morning during a White House meeting with Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The President’s plan is sure to set off a new political confrontation with Congress. The legislative branch, in the course of a four-year battle, has slashed the Administration’s request for 100 of the giant MX missiles in half while directing the Pentagon to turn to the Midgetman as the next-generation nuclear missile.

The sources described Reagan as determined to secure congressional approval for the second 50 MX missiles. The MX--dubbed the Peacekeeper by the Administration--is the largest land-based missile ever built by the United States, carrying 10 independently targetable warheads.

The first 10 of the 50 MX missiles authorized by Congress are to be activated later this month in refurbished Minuteman silos at F. E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.