U.S. Offers Compromise on Missiles : Non-Nuclear Rocket Weighed as Option for West Germany

The United States is discussing with the troubled West German government a potential compromise to the dispute over short-range nuclear missiles that involves development of a non-nuclear West German rocket, U.S. officials said today.

The missile could target airfields and other Warsaw Pact military installations now covered by the nuclear-armed Lances that Chancellor Helmut Kohl is trying to persuade NATO to scale back and eventually eliminate.

The West German government decided in February to suspend research and development of the FK-90, which is classified as a tactical weapon with a range below 300 miles. But in seeking a compromise in the dispute over the Lance missile, going ahead with the German missile is under discussion, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Options Sought

Gen. Henning von Ondarza, the commander-in-chief of the West German army, is in Washington holding talks at the Pentagon and the State Department on options intended to ease the strains in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Britain has lined up with the United States in trying to persuade Kohl to agree to expand the range of the aging Lance and to drop his demand for U.S. negotiations with the Soviets on reducing short-range nuclear weapons. Norway, Denmark and other NATO countries are siding with West Germany.

Failure to heal the rift could cloud President Bush’s summit meeting in Brussels on May 29-30 with the leaders of the NATO countries.

Another option is to have NATO make unilateral cuts in its short-range nuclear weapons while challenging the Soviets to meet the lower levels, U.S. and NATO officials said.

There are 88 Lance launchers, most of which are based in West Germany. Officials have said the Warsaw Pact outnumbers NATO by about 12-to-1 in short-range nuclear missile launchers.

NATO is already retiring tactical nuclear artillery weapons. Cutting back on the Lances--after the range of the missile is more than tripled to about 250 miles--was suggested in a recent study by U.S. Gen. John Galvin, the alliance’s supreme military commander in Europe.

The idea was quietly proposed to Kohl’s government several weeks ago, but the chancellor persisted in demanding a delay in modernizing the Lances for three years and speedy U.S. negotiations with the Soviets over them, U.S. officials said.

The alliance contends it needs to maintain its nuclear stockpile to balance a superiority the East has built in conventional arms.