Deal to Build Two Missile Systems Seen : Basing MXs on Rail Cars Linked to OK for Costly Midgetman

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, just a day into his new job, on Tuesday began grappling with the divisive issue of how to modernize the nation’s land-based force of nuclear missiles, while the Air Force and congressional proponents of a small mobile missile moved toward a compromise that would keep two different missile programs alive.

The outlines of the emerging deal surfaced publicly as House Armed Services Committee Chairman Les Aspin (D-Wis.) told an Air Force audience Tuesday: “For political consensus, we are probably going to have both rail MX and Midgetman.”

Aspin’s remarks reflect a new willingness on the part of congressional Democrats to accept a plan for basing the nation’s 50 10-warhead MX missiles on railroad cars, if it is paired with assurances that the Air Force will develop and deploy the small mobile missile popularly known as Midgetman.

Compromise Proposed

Senior Pentagon officials, working on Capitol Hill during the Pentagon’s two months without a secretary of defense, have proposed a similar compromise linking the two systems.

“We’ve both got to get off our polar extremes,” said a defense official who advocates a compromise that would keep both programs alive. “A package can be constructed that could satisfy cynics that the Air Force would go ahead with the small ICBM” if the service could count on congressional approval of the controversial new MX basing plan.

President Bush said during his presidential campaign that his defense secretary would “have to make a very difficult decision (on) which system to go forward with.” But, as Bush encountered delay in filling the top Pentagon post, he initiated an Administration-wide review of American strategic commitments that will help determine how to proceed in modernizing the long-range missiles.

Facing Huge Challenges

At Cheney’s formal swearing-in at the Pentagon Tuesday, Bush said that the new defense secretary faces “truly enormous” challenges, among them the sweeping review of the nation’s strategic weapons. But he noted that Cheney must choose among weapons systems and plan for future defense needs in an era of limited resources.

During his confirmation hearing last week, Cheney told senators that he hopes to find a solution that will have broad support in Congress. “Under ideal circumstances, we would be able to proceed with both systems,” he said.

In a speech Tuesday at the Air Force’s Air University, Aspin acknowledged that proceeding with both systems would squeeze funds available for other defense programs, including the Strategic Defense Initiative, which aims at development of a missile defense system, and the Air Force’s stealth bomber.

Missile Called Too Costly

Air Force officials and Adm. William J. Crowe, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, until recently have argued that the Midgetman, with an estimated cost of up to $24 billion, is simply too expensive to build.

By contrast, the Air Force has spent almost $690 million to develop the MX basing plan and begin construction. The service estimates that it would cost $5.4 billion to complete a system of 50 MX missiles ready to leave their rail-side garrisons and ride the nation’s commercial tracks during periods of international tensions.

In a recent interview, Gen. Larry D. Welch, the Air Force chief of staff, defended the missiles-on-rail-cars proposal as a system that “gives us mobility at a comparatively bargain price.”

“We don’t have technical or programmatic concerns about the small intercontinental ballistic missile,” Welch said. “It’s a good program. I wish we could afford it.”

Welch asserted that the Air Force is sincere in its willingness to proceed with the small ICBM, despite charges by congressional Midgetman partisans that the service has dragged its feet on the program.

‘We Can’t Afford It’

“We’re in kind of a funny position on this,” Welch said. “We’re in a position of wanting something very badly that we can’t afford and being severely criticized for stepping up to the fact that we can’t afford it.”

Staff writer John M. Broder contributed to this story.