Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 19, 1990                   TAG: 9004190771
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. HALTS PRODUCTION OF SHORT-RANGE MISSILES

The 88 new launchers, 36 of which were to be controlled by the United States and the others by West Germany, Britain and the Netherlands, were designed for targeting on East Germany.

The tentative U.S. goal was to begin deploying them in 1995 to replace the current mixture of nuclear-armed and conventional Lance missiles.

But East Germany is rapidly moving out of the Soviet sphere and preparing for union with West Germany. It is no longer perceived as a threat to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries.

The current arsenal of Lances will remain in West Germany, however. Those with nuclear warheads have a range of about 75 miles, and the non-nuclear weapons are designed to hit targets within 45 miles.

The new launchers were intended to have a greater range of about 280 miles, just below the level of intermediate-range nuclear missiles that were banned in a U.S.-Soviet treaty in 1987.

"The present system is a viable deterrent through the year 2,000, even though the Army would have liked to start deployment of new Lances in 1995," a U.S. official said.

The current Lances recently were touched up with new fuel for their rockets, the replacement of worn-out components and other maintenance.

All the new Lances were supposed to be nuclear-armed.

Their potential deployment had stirred opposition among West German groups eager to promote disarmament and concerned that deploying new weapons on their territory could make West Germany a more inviting target in the event of a war.

As East-West tensions eased, support for the missiles declined in the West German government and among several of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies.

Still, the Reagan and Bush administrations resisted efforts led by West Germany for negotiations to eliminate both NATO and Warsaw Pact short-range missiles until a treaty to cut back troops, tanks and other weapons in Europe is concluded.

The accord is still not finished. But, the officials said, the Bush administration has decided not to have the Army Missile Command solicit proposals from munitions makers for manufacturing new Lance missiles.

"The project has been put on indefinite hold," said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said the current Lance arsenal would serve as a deterrent through the rest of the century.