Razzle-Dazzle in the Arsenal

Pentagon officers were dismayed when President Johnson decided to speak up at a press conference about Redeye, Shillelagh and Walleye--three highly classified non-nuclear U.S. weapons. But despite the doubts, Johnson went ahead, decided to let the reporters in on the secrets, "I think you would like to hear something about this because you can take great pride in it." Then he revealed the newest razzle dazzle in the U.S. arsenal:

>REDEYE is a bazooka-like weapon that blasts out a baseball-bat-sized two stage missile carrying an infrared, heat-seeking guidance system. It is able to search out the hot tail pipe of a low-flying jet fighter flashing along at supersonic speeds. Once Redeye "finds" the target, it flies into the exhaust and explodes. Most impressive aspect of Redeye: it weighs only 28 Ibs. loaded, can be hauled over the roughest battlefield terrain and can be fired at strafing jets from the shoulder of a single infantryman. Scheduled for production in a few months, Redeye will be a handy new addition for the Army and the Marine Corps.

>SHILLELAGH is a stubby little (about 50 Ibs.; 43 in.) missile launched from an armored vehicle--usually a tank. Its microbeam-guidance system is so accurate that Shillelagh can destroy a tank, pillbox or troop concentration several miles away. Giving Shillelagh an added knockdown punch is its launching platform, the new General Sheridan tanklike armored vehicle. This is a speedy battlefield bantamweight (it weighs only 16 tons, compared with 50 tons for most U.S. tanks) that scoots along at 39 m.p.h. on the ground; when necessary it can dive into water and "swim" at 4 m.p.h. More important: the Sheridan is so compact that it can be parachuted to a battle area with its Shillelagh launcher set to fire. Neither vehicle nor missile system is in full production yet, but will be by 1966.

>WALLEYE is a nonnuclear, 1,000-lb. glide bomb that is simply dropped from an airplane--just as in World War II. After that the resemblance ends, for Walleye is one of the U.S.'s most sophisticated and accurate weapons. In its warhead it carries a television camera --aimed, of course, at the ground. As Walleye falls, the camera sends a picture of the target area back to a screen in the cockpit. The pilot focuses the target picture on his screen and by remote control locks the Walleye guidance system on the target at the same time. Billed by its designers as the most accurate bomb ever made, Walleye literally sees its way down to its target with the television camera. It is not yet in production, but has repeatedly been tested successfully by the Navy at its China Lake, Calif., range.

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