Monitoring bombers and cruise missiles for the purposes of arms control

Dean A. Wilkening

Expert InsightsPublished 1985

This paper discusses the extent to which bomber/cruise missile characteristics and activities can be monitored by national technical means. Monitoring, which involves detection, identification, and measurement, should be distinguished from verification, which involves judging treaty compliance. The author concludes that aircraft that can perform bombing missions can be identified with moderate confidence at best. Cruise missiles can be monitored with moderate levels of confidence only if no deliberate effort is made to conceal them. Although monitoring bomber/cruise missile characteristics with high confidence is difficult, this does not necessarily imply that arms control agreements involving these systems cannot be adequately verified.

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Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 1985
  • Pages: 23
  • Document Number: P-7065

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Wilkening, Dean A., Monitoring bombers and cruise missiles for the purposes of arms control. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1985. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P7065.html.
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