WEEKLY SURVEYOR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86T00608R000700040016-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 21
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 16, 2005
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: April 21, 1975
• Content Type: IR

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Top Secret
Weekly Surveyor
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Top Secret
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TSWS-16/75
21 April 1975
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WEEKLY SURVEYOR
USSR AND EASTERN EUROPE
Relatively intensive Soviet training has been
carried out for the Apollo-Soyuz mission.
Nevertheless, this training still is not nearly as
extensive as that given US astronauts. The
sixth and last joint training session during
14.25 April will include inspection of the
Soyuz spacecraft at t ~1 rich site.
A Soviet hydrometeorologist has proposed
that a technical inspection service be estab-
lished in the USSR Ministry of Agriculture.
This program appears to be a rudimentary
effort to initiate low-altitude sensing of local
agricultural situations. The altitude specified
would not be helpful in detecting unusual
developments in the overall outlook for crop
Multipurpose agricultural machines for pre-
sowing soil cultivation are to be used hi the
RSFSR non-black soil zone for the first time.
The Soviets are launching a large scale effort
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in the non-bl-ick soil zone to increase the
arable land. This type of equipment have been
available in the US for over ) .dpi r1 .
A new scientific research center devoted to
agriculture and forestry in Siberia and the
Soviet Far ]East is being built near the West
Siberian city of Novosibirsk. The work of the
center in expanding the area of agriculture
cultivation and in improving yields under
adverse climatic conditions could lead to a
signi5cant increase in agricultural production
in Siberia and the Far East by the end the
century.
The new Soviet 6-meter telescope mirror is
optically imperfect and a blank for a third
primary mirror now is being formed. This
suggests that the optical quality of the
existing minor cannot be corrected by re-
figuring the mirror. In addition, temperature
problems may be lowering the image quality
significantly below that desired. Soviet astro-
nomical studies requiring very higi; resolution
observations will be handicapped u atil these
problems are solved.
The Soviets have failed to put a second crew
on board Salyut 4
The cosmonauts were re urne
safely to earth aboard the descent module.
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under the direction of Chinese medical
workers, can be expected ultimately to place
most rural medical care in that country in
Chinese hands. The rendering of such vital
personal services on a sizable scale can be used
effectively to advance and support Chinese
political interests in Algeria.
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It is believed that the Chinese are in the early
stages of photorespiration research and the
methods used are similar to those used in US
work. The few countries in the world now
engaged in photorespiration research have
barely scratched the surface, but this research
has potential for achieving a major advance in
crop production efficiency.
Numerous measures are being undertaken to
improve agriculture in Iran. The Iranian
government expressed interest I in
setting up a program for computer-controlled
environmental farming by 1976.
The creation of several acupuncture centers in
Algeria using Chinese-trained Algerians and
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25X1 MISCELLANEOUS 25X1
Parts of the South African uranium enrich-
ment pilot plant are now in operation. The
process used in the plant is believed to be
based on aer,,,dynamic principles like the
Becker nozzle process, and it is likely that
only certain parts of the process are bei
tested.
A typhoid fever outbreak has been reported
in the Dominican Republic. An epidemic of
this disease would present a high risk of
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South African Uranium Enrichment Pilot Plant in Opera-ion:
The Prime Minister of the Republic of South A ca has
announced that the pilot plant at Valindaba went into
25X1 operation during the weekend of 5-6 April.
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Con,.ent: Since 1971, the South Africans have been
constructing g a pilot plant for enrichment of uranium, which
they claim uses a new domestically developed process.
Various dates had been set for the plant tc go i -
tion, the latest having been at the end of 1975.
is i e y a on y certain parts of the process are
being tested.
The process used in the plant is believed to be based
on aerodynamic principles like the Becker nozzle process.
The pilot plant is large enough to have a small economic
production capability. The South Africans are planning to
construct a full scale commercial plant to be built with
South African funds or jointly with funds from a Western
country. The South.Africans will use the large domestic
uranium ore reservpq available to them-
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Soviet Attempt to Put Second Crew on board Salyut 4 Fails:
On April 5 a manned Soyuz spacecraft was launched by the
USSR for continuing experiments jointly with the Salyut 4
space-station. The crew on board the spacecraft consisted
of Colonel Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Maka'ov. The third stage
of the ce.:.'rier rocket deviated from course; the spacecraft
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was then detached for return to earth. The descent module
soft-landed southwest of Gorno-Attaisk In Western Siberia.
Both cosmonauts were picked u by the search and rescue
service and are we7.l.
Relatively Intensive Cosmonaut Training Carried Out for
A ollo-Soyuz Mission: Tass announced that a full simula-
tion of the joint US-USSR mission (ASTP) had been carried
out for the past 9 days by the US and USSR space crews and
flight controllers at their respective mission control
centers. These training sessions included extensive
practice of rendezvous and docking operations, communication
25X1 check-out with the flight control centers, and procedures
for handling flight emergencies.
Comment: Training for the upcoming ASTP in July has
been the most intensive by far ever carried out by Soviet
cosmonauts. Nevertheless, this training still is .-, t
nearly as extensive as that given US astronauts. The
Soviet training has included simulation training, briefings
on spacecraft systems, and lengthy review of the joint crew
flight plan. Previously, the Soviet cosmonauts had very
limited knowledge of their spacecraft systems and appeared
to have little input or extensive familiarity with the
flight plan.
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The sixth
and last joint training session, which has just begun in
the USSR (14-25 April), will include inspection of the
Soyuz spacecraft at the launch site. Two test and simu-
lation sessions involving the control centers and crews
in their own country will be held in May and June 1975.
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Typhoid Fever Outbreak Reported in the Dominican Republic:
According to the Dominican Republic Pub lic Health Secretariat,
a medical shipment was sent to Cotui, Sanchez Ramiriz Province,
for the treatment of several cases of water-borne "typhus."
The Secretariat downplayed earlier reports of an epidemic and
claimed that the outbreak was not serious and that measures
were being taken to eradicate the disease. While health
officials blamed unsanitary conditions as contributing to
the outbreak they denied that the drinking water was con-
taminated. 25X1
Comment: This outbreak undoubtedly is typhoid fever.
A typhooi ver epidemic in the Dominican Republic would
present a high risk of disease transmission to the US. The
generally low standards of hygiene and sanitation practiced
in the Dominican Republic provide an environment highly
receptive to epidemics of enteric diseases such as typhoid.
Efforts of local health officials to downplay the reported
outbreak may reflect concern over the potential loss of much
needed foreign exchange from tourists, particularly those
from the US.
Typhoid fever, a systemic bacterial disease, is spread
primarily through contaminated food and water, but human
carriers often transmit it to previously uninfected areas.
In 1973, a typhoid fever epidemic in Florida resulting in
more than 100 cases among migrant workers was traced to an
American tourist who had acquired the infection while in
Mexico.
Chinese Train Algerians in Acupuncture: On 10 March, the
Algerian Minister of Health dedicated an acupuncture train-
ing center in Medea. The center will be staffed with Chinese
specialists. Following the course of instruction, Algerian
students will be sent to Peking for supplementary training
and practical work. Upon their return from China, the
students are to train others in the art. The Minister of
Health indicated that the facility at Medea is the first
of several such centers to be built across the country.
The Chinese now staff at least five Western style hospitals
and clinics in Algeria and have a medical aid force there of
nearly 100. Acupuncture is said to have become quite fashion-
able in Algeria, even in the diplomatic community. It fits
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well with local predilections, and a number of "cures" have
been attributed to it.
Comment: The Chinese have introduced acupuncture suc-
cessfully into several African countries since about 1969.
Natives of Tanzania, Zambia, the Congo, and Nigeria tend to
regard it highly. In Zambia, acupuncture by Chinese traveling
medical teams has begun to replace the traditional African
witch doctors. In 1972, Nigeria expressed an interest in
the use of acupuncture anesthesia and sent several students
to China to learn the technique.
The creation of several acupuncture centers in Algeria
using Chinese trained Algerians and under the direction of
Chinese medical workers, can be expected ultimately to place
most rural medical care in that country in Chinese hands.
If acupuncture remains fashionable among the officials
and diplomatic community, the Chinese may well furnish
most of the medical care in that quarter as well. The
rendering of vital personal services on a sizable scale
can be used effectively to advance and su ort Chinese
political interests in Algeria. F777 7
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AGROTECHNOLOGY AND FOOD RESOURCES
PRC Initiates Photorespiration Research--A Potential
Breakthrough Frontier Area for Crop Productivity: A
member of the PRC photosynthesis delegation which toured
the US in 1974 indicated that photorespiration research
is being conducted in the PRC. Great interest was shown
in a US program to develop soybean mutants which do not
photorespire (and therefore would have greater net photo-
synthetic productivity). It was implied that PRC research
methods are similar to those in US soybean work but are
directed toward rice mutants that do not photorespire.
Vast numbers of plants must be screened and, to date, no
mutant capable of modifying an enzyme chemically to eliminate
photorespiration has ben discovered anywhere in the world.
The economic potential is great because an increase of up
to 50 percent in productivity possibly could be achieved by
modifying food crops which naturally photorespire.
Comment: The few countries in the world now engaged in
experimentation in photorespiration have barely scratched
the surface, but this research has potential for achieving
a major advance in crop production efficiency. At this early
research stage., the Chinese do not need sophisticated instru-
mentation. But should their search for mutants succeed, the
PRC could be handicapped by lack of the very advanced instru-
mentation and techniques which will be required to understand
and exploit the complicated biochemical processes involved.
This initial research demonstrates that the PRC recognizes
the high agricultural potential of photorespiration studies
and is willing to commit resources to limited domestic re-
search of this kind.
The major emphasis in world-wide experimentation has
been an attempt to examine the biochemistry, genetics, and
breeding characteristics of low photorespiration plants.
Lowering or eliminating photorespiration could greatly
increase net photosynthesis in many species and increase
plant productivity (up to 50 percent), provided no adverse
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tors. Tha t._ghly productive tropical grasses, crab-
grass, corn, soj^ghum and sugarcane plants do not photorespire.
Species that do p',lotorespre and therefore are limited in net
photosynthetic productivity-include among others soybeans
(legumes) and most cereal grains.
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Soviets Initiate New Cultivation Program for Marginal
Lands: Thousands of n.:w multipurpose agricultural
machines for presowing soil cultivation are to be used
for the first time in Moscow, Kalinin, Ivanovo and other
oblasts in the RSFSR non-black soil zone. In one sweep
of the field, the machine loosens the soil, levels the
surface, and rolls it. The improved soil cultivation
achieved will increase cereal yields by 2 quintals per
hectare. The machine is intended especially for the
county 's non-black soil zone.
25X1 Comment: This type of equipment, still being in-
troduced in the USSR, has been used in the US for over 2
decades to reduce the number of separate tillage operations
required to grow a crop. The Soviets probably will succeed
in this practice and thus will reduce the cost of growing
crops. The Soviet model of this machine probably is designed
for stubble mulch -tillage, i.e., much of the residue frosn
preceding crop growth is left on the surface to protect the
loosened soil by conserving soil moisture and preventing soil
erosion.
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The Soviets are launching this large scale effort in the
non-black soil zone to increase the arable land. This area
is characterized by sandy, erosive and leached soils and by
large areas with poor drainage. Expensive drainage systems
and careful management of the relatively infertile soils w-3.ll
be required to intensify and expand crop production in 'ihis
area. In this area of short growing seasons, reducing the
time required to prepare seedbeds for spring sowing of crops
would be a decided benefit.
Aerial Monitoring of USSR Crop Conditions Proposed: A
Ukrainian hydrometeorologist has proposed that a technical
inspection service" be established in the USSR Ministry of
Agriculture. This service would monitor crop conditions
using special techniques developed by Soviet research for
gathering radiometry and photography data by aerial survey.
Radiometry uses long-range radiation ther;noelements to
distinguish contrasts in temperature between the plants
and the exposed soil. The more useful photo-optic method
notes the contrdsts of optical density on aerial film to
measure the ratio of the areas occupied by and devoid of
plants. Data would be gathered by helicopter, flying at
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100 to 150 meters altitude, and ground observations would 25X1
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Siberian Agricultural Science City Under Construction at
Novosibirsk. A new scientific research center devoted to
agr ulture and forestry in Siberia and the Soviet Far East
is being built near the West Siberian city of Novosibirsk.
Plans for the center were
announced in 1969; its construc-
tion ,t this time is a strong in-
dicator of official concerr, about
future food production L.crabili-
ties. The new center will pro-
vide a focus for agricultural
research in the remote eastern
regions, which comprise 57 per-
cent of the Soviet land area but
contribute only about 9 percent
of the total value of Soviet
farm products. Much of the area
is useless for crop cultivation
because of its harsh climate
and poor soils. Sparse popula-
tion, inadequate transportation,
and slow diffusion of technology
further constrain the agricul-
tural development of the region.
The work of the center in expanding the area of agricul-
tural cultivation and in improving yields under adverse climatic
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conditions could lead to a significant increase in agricultural
production in Siberia and the Far East by the end of the century.
Even if climatic conditions worsen, the research center will
provide useful studies of production limitations in a severe
climate.
The Siberian Department of the All-Union Academy of
Agricultural Sciences imeni V. I. Lenin (VASKHNIL) will be
housed at he center. Several of its research institutes
? will share common laboratories and conference rooms in a
single multisection building. Experimental fields will occupy
800 hectares (nearly 2,001 acres) of the 6,000 hectares of
land alloted to the center.
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The research center is being developed as a science city 25X1
similar in concept to Akademgorodok, the science city of the
4ihartart Aea1 my of Sciences, also located near Novosibirsk.
The locat' ion of the agricultural center adds significantly
to the preeminence of Novosibirsk as the major scientific
center east of the Urals and wil itate cooperation
between the two science centers.
Iran Considers US Agrotechnology to Help Increase Farm 25X1
Productivity and Efficient: he Iranian
government expressed interest :3n setting up a 25X1
program for computer-controlled environmental farming by
1976. The program would include a weather modification
project aimed at a 25 percent seasonal increase in the water
content of the Carag reservoir northwest of Tehran. The
thrust of the program will be to increase the farm p^o-
ductivity of the arid areas in north central Iran. '.he
program is designed specifically to use irrigation ,pater 25X1
efficiently, to predict maturity dates and yields, to
estimate the salvage potential of damaged crops, anti to
facilitate disease and insect control.
Comment: This is another example of the measures
underway in Iran to improve agriculture, the bane of the
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Iranian economy. Agricultural production in 1rare has not
met domestic demands in recent years, and the population
is growing at an annual rate of about 3 percent. Meat is
chronically in short supply, and most of the wheat which
provides about one-half of the caloric intake for the average
Iranian is grown on non-irrigated land, making it highly
susceptible to drought.
Agricultural mechanization in Iran has increased con-
siderably in the past few years, but farm practices gen-
erally remain primitive. Iran's Fifth Development Plan calls
for the production of sufficient food to meet expanding
domestic needs through improved agroterhnology. The
principal goal is to raise farm production by an average
of at least 7 percent annually--an unlikely achievement
in this time frame even with foreign assistance. Moreover,
domestic food requirements during this ririod will rise by
an estimated 11.5 percent per year.
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New Soviet Six-Meter Telescope Mirror Is Unsatisfactory:
According to E. K. tustel, Chrman of the Soviet
Astronomical Council, the second 6-meter diameter mirror
for the world's largest telescope -s optically imperfect
anc: a blank for a. third primary nirror now is being formed.
The first mirror broke during the final stages of comple-
tion in 1970. The existing mirror's quality is inferior
to the 150-inch mirror at Kitt Peak and the 200-inch mirror
at Mt. Palomar.
Comment: The preparation of a blank for a third
primary mirror strongly suggests that the optical quality
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of the existing mirror cannot be corrected by refiguring
preparation o a new blan
requires a ou
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the grinding, polishing, and (:orrect::i.ng probably another
2 year;:; .
The chief designer of the 6-meter telee;cope, 13. K.
Ioani.;;,;ianni., w~l;', al nU in charge of development of what
in now the second lavgent: Suv:i.et telec;cope (2.G-meter'
diarrleter) . Thi:; teler;cope .-:Lno had not: .ichi sved the
desired image qua.] itty even after correc t7.ve figuring,
me.l;;ure;.; were attempted. If t:),e problem for the 6-meter'
mirror is one of .figuring, there in name doubt: that the
Sovict:.; will be .ibj,e to produce a mirror of thin ,;,.ze
of high optical quality.
In spite c,C the pr'obl.ernn , the r.x;.sti.ng; mirror probably
will be used until it is vepiarced. In the meant: i.me 1,11annec1
antronomic,-1 tudi.en requiring very high r'e:.oluti.on obnerva-
tionn wiJ.'. be hundiC,rt,l,ed.
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