Book Description

The Air Force plans to deploy the Peacekeeper Missile System within the 90th Strategic Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base (AFB) near Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Peacekeeper system is an advanced, land-based intercontinental ballistic missile system designed to improve the nation's strategic deterrent force. Land-based strategic missiles are an integral part of the United States' nuclear deterrence strategy. Air, sea, and land-based weapons form a TRIAD of strategic forces, each with different capabilities and advantages to complicate Soviet offensive and defensive planning. The TRIAD also provides a hedge against technical problems that could temporarily disable a system and against technological breakthroughs or a rapid evolution of threats that might erode the survivability of one or more parts of our strategic forces. The 1983 Defense Appropriations Act exempted the President's report and proposals from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. The purpose of this environmental impact statement is not to review those prior decisions, but to analyze the impacts of implementing actions and their alternatives, including development of mitigation measures.