U.S. PLANS BIG SPENDING INCREASE FOR MILITARY OPERATIONS IN SPACE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402700045-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: October 17, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
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ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIMES
17 OCTOBER 1982
U.S. Plans Big Spending Increase -
For Military Operations in Space
Program Includes Better Satellites, Gathering of
Intelligence and a Cargo Role for the Shuttle
By RICHARD HALLORAN
Special m The Naw Yark'nmer
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 - After a
quarter-century of mostly peaceful ex-
ploration of space, the United States
has begun a vast expansion of its mili-
tary operations there.
In the next five years the Reagan Ad-
First of three articles
A New Military Focus
Buildup in Space
ministration plans to increase spending
on military operations in space even
faster than the rest of the military
budget.
Better satellites are planned for
highly sophisticated communications,
intelligence gathering, navigation,
weather forecasting and mapping. The
space shuttle, having carried its first
military payload, will replace rockets
as the primary vehicle for lofting mili-
tary cargoes into orbit.
The Administration has undertaken i
elaborate new measures to defend
satellites and has ordered a ground-
based antisatellite system to be ready
by 1987. It has also stimulated research
to develop a new generation of ad-
vanced weapons such as lasers, though
officials say they do not plan to station
weapons in orbit.
New Space Command organized
To put this into a framework, presi-
dent Reagan has enunciated a new
space policy with emphasis on military
operations, and the Air Force has or-
ganized a new Space Command.
The purpose of the surge into military
space operations is to enable American
forces to fight more effectively in a pro-
longed conventional or nuclear war
around the world against the Soviet
Union, according to a variety of Admin-
istration officials. Those officials also
argue that the United States cannot sur-
render the high ground of space to the
Soviet Union, most of whose space ef-
fort, they say, is for military purposes.
f
p
tle
and transition costs to accommoaate zu
defense shuttle launches" through 1987.
The first shuttle with a purely mili-
tary cargo, the nature of which officials
would not discuss, is scheduled for next
fall. After that, 113 of the 311 flights
planned through 1994 will carry mili-
tary payloads, Mr. Cooper said.
Moreover, weapons capable of de-
media straying Soviet satellites are being de-
The objective
and intelligence is to provide' veloped. The Administration plans to
communications The immediate
Bence that spend $20 billion more on communica-
are faster, more reliable, and more se- tions, mostly in space, to strengthen
cure than current systems to enable tx-ntrol of nuclear forces.
outnumbered or outgunned United, To underscore the new military em-
States forces to move faster and strike phasis on space, Mr. Reagan has out-
harder at vulnerable points. Military lied a policy for Minutes space operations.
commanders call this generating after the shuttle Columbia
"force multipliers." touched down on July 4, Mr. Reagan
issued a directive, and the first point on
The Under Secretary of the Air the list was "the security, of the United
Force, Edward C. Aldridge, said: I States." While reaffirming a commit-
There is the need to find how we can ment to peaceful uses of space, the di-
better utilize our existing forces. One rective said, "The United States will
thing is information, navigation, weath-
er, communications, all those things
that contribute to a better allocation of
forces."
Mr. Aldridge, a key official in the
military space program, asserted,
"There is clearly a need to provide bet-
ter support to military commanders in
time of crisis and in wartime."
"That translates to a need to main-
tain spacecraft that operate in a hostile
environment," he said, referring to
places where the craft might come
under attack.
Today, Defense Department officials
say, American military forces rely on
more than 40 satellites for long-range
communication, a variety of intelli-
gence gathering, navigation, weather
forecasts and mapping.
Those operations, according to Mr.
Aldridge, will be enlarged as the Ad-
ministration plans to increase spending
for military uses of space more than 10
percent a year after making up for the
effects of inflation. Growth in that area
would be faster than the 7 percent an-
nual increases in the overall military
budget.
A vital element will be the space shut-
tle.
"The space shuttle will change the
way we do business," said Gen. Robert
T. Marsh, commander of the Air Force
Systems Command. "We will depend
upon it for launching virtually all of our
national security payloads.".
pursue activities in space in support of
its right to self-defense."
Five-Year Strategic Plan
The five-year strategic plan known as
Defense Guidance elaborates, saying,
"The United States space program will
contribute to the deterrence of an at-
tack on the United States or, if deter-
rence fails, to the prosecution of war by
developing, deploying, operating and,
supporting space systems."
The Air Force, which has the greatest
share of responsibilities in space, has
organized a Space Command that will
gradually centralize control of space
operations. The deputy commander,
Lieut. Gen. Richard C. Henry, said:
"Space is not a mission, it is a place. It
is a theater of operations. It is now time
that we treat it as a theater of opera-
tions."
Even so, Administration officials in-
sist that they have no plans for putting
weapons into orbit.
"We are conducting research and
planning related to space weaponry,"
said Richard D. DeLauer, the Under
Secretary of Defense for Research and
Engineering. "But I emphasize that no
commitment has been made to acquire
space-based weapons. And we will pro-
teed only if our national security is so
threatened."
Defense Department budgets, how.
ever, reflect the Administration's pri-
orities. The military space budget in
1982, which was $6.4 billion, for the first
time surpassed that of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration,
which was $5.5 billion.
(ii \'TINUED
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Goal of $14 Billion Budget
For the fiscal year that began Oct. 1,
the Administration has asked for $8.5
billion for military space operations, as
against the $6.8 billion that Congress
approved for NASA, which was about
what the Administration requested. By
1988, according to Mr. Aldridge's calcu-
lations, the military space budget will
be $14 billion, if Congress approves.
That does not include increases to make
up for inflation.
Despite the differences in the mili-
tary and civilian space budgets, senior
Administration officials deny that they
intend to militarize space. George A.
Keyworth, science adviser to the Presi.
dent, says, "That's simply not true. The
balance remains essentially what it has
been - about a 5050 split between mill..
tary and nonmilitary."
Moreover, Mr. Aldridge asserts, mili-
tary use of space is not new. "We've al-
ways been there," he said.
An Air Force general recalled that as
a Young captain he helped to launch a
military satellite in 1965. "It's still
working," he said.
Administration officials, however,
contend that the United States may
~~ ?~O~ . explained that if Mr.
have fallen behind. Mr. Aldridge sas Weinberger wanted to talk to President
that if the United States fails to pursue a Reagan, the National Military Com-
rigorous space program, .we face the mend Center in the Pentagon, or any.
chilling prospect of confronting an on.. one else in Washington, he need only
forgiving adversary who deploys space' Say on-
warfare systems while we try to react The sergeant spun the pack around,
from a markedly inferior defense pos. Pulled out an antenna, aimed it in the di-
rection of a satellite, and said it was
sustained orbit leading to a space sta-
tion, the Soviet development of an or-
bital bombardment system and Soviet
deployment of a rudimentary antisl-
lite system. The number of Soviet 1 ilk, particularly for the command and
launchings and the work being done on
a space shuttle are also cited.
Last year the Soviet Union made 98
launchings as against 16 for the United
ready with a scrambler to preserve se.
crecy. The signal officer added, ..That's
an old set. The new ones weigh only half
as much."
Communications like that underscore
the routine military -reliance on satel.
control of the nation's far-flung military
forces. "Over 70 percent of our long.
haul communications are handled by
satellites," General Hartin
er said
g
.
States. But other officers contend that Space communication, moreover,
some American satellites, with their has opened new operational possibil-
modern electronics, operate for 10 sties. Radio transmission by satellite
years while some Russian satellites, from Desert One, the assembly point
with their older electronics, burn out in for the attempt to rescue American hos-
six months. tages in Teheran in 1980, provided in.
The Russians, who were first into I the communication between
space with the famous Sputnik globe 25 the field commander in Iran
the -j-
,
Military Emphasis Assailed years ago, have done considerable work alon commander in Egypt, and Wash.
Nonetheless, criticism has been on lasers, which are intense beams of lng~-
mounting. The Secretary of Defense in light, and beams of atomic particles. Persian Gulf Scenario
But there
the Carter Administration, Harold is disagreement on how tar Dispatching the Rapid Brown, argues, "It is foolish to let the along they ? Comparisons Are Dliikartt Force to the Persian Gulfwouldepend
space science and planetary explora- on satellite communication, which has
tion programs wither." Mr. Brown, in a Comparing costs of United States played a part in exercises called Bright
recent article, said, "The contrasts military efforts in space with those of Star in which American forces went to
with the proposals for technologically the Soviet Union is difficult. Soviet train in Egyptian deserts.
and militarily dubious multibillion.dol- forces operate mostly in the Soviet The main Defense Satellite Com.
lar space weapons programs is all the Union or, in the case of naval forces, munications System has four satellites
more painful." relatively close to Soviet borders. Thus weighing more than 1,000 pounds each
Well-informed people disagree over they can rely on shorter, internal lines and two-backups in orbit. That system
whether the United States is ahead or of communication- connects 27 military command centers
behind the Soviet Union in military In contrast, American forces are dis- and carries voice, Teletype, images and
space operations. persed around the world at the end of computerized data. Portable ground
Mr. Brown. considered by .na~nfia.e I long and a mmnlir-nt*A "--f--'-& . _
of Congress, military officials and mili-
tary contractors to be the best qualified
technician to have been Defense Secre-
tary, said: "By and large, the United
a:euua. In addrnon, me national econo. A new system of 12 satellites is nearly
mies and systems of cost accounting ready for stationary orbit 23,000 miles
are very different. up. Those satellites, which will have six
Gen. James V. Hartinger, head of the instead of four channels, have been de.
Space Command in Colorado Springs
signed to last 10
ears e
h
.
,
.
.
.
y
e
ac
.
military support uses for space. In gee. says that in the current year, "they are The Navy has a satellite eommunica-
eral, the Soviets, b virtue of their eo- outspending us by about $3 billion in tion system of five 4,000-pound satellites
graphically central position, have less total space budget, which would with 23 channels and a lifespan of five
need to rely on space-based systems." amount to total spending of $18 billion. Years. Ten channels are allocated to the
Mr. Brown noted exceptions, saying Con~essianal office 1~ nay the Central Navy, 12 to the Air Force, and one for
the Russians were ahead in satellites t
estimates the President or the Defense Secretary.
that tracked warships. The Soviet AM
Xnama is about S20 bil-
on. Tracking Soviet Missiles
Union has put u
fo
p
ir such satellites
this year alone, according to Defense
Daily, an industry newsletter.
Criticism by Research Group
I The Center for Defense information
,
a research organization here that says
it supports a strong military but op.
poses excessive expenditures, also de-
plores what it considers to be an arms
race in space. The center maintains
that the United States has a better
space
States is able program design and build mUnited
ates
ore "because sophisticated and capable devices t -
the Soviet Union."
States is ahead of the U
S
S
R
in th
"'-bn a warm, surmy day in South Korea
last spring, Secretary of Defense Cas-
par W. Weinberger accompanied Presi.
dent Chun Doo Ewan to a demonstra.
tion at a firing range where American
and South Korean soldiers directed
tank, artillery, and aircraft firepower
into the side of a mountain.
Behind the heavily guarded bunker
from which Mr. Weinberger and Mr.
Chun watched, a United States Army
sergeant sat with an 80-pound pack. A
The United States has also become
d.~errdent on satellites for Vital inteili-
S? Thirty seconds after a Soviet in-
tercontinental ballistic missile lifts out
of a silo, American satellites sight it.
Three satellites 20 feet in diameter and
weighing a ton apiece in stationary
orbit watch the entire world with their
infrared sensors to pick out telltale heat
trails. 4
As the rocket breaks through the
cloud cover, the satellites' sensors pick
it up and begin transmitting informa.
don on its speed and course to comput-
ers and display terminals in a com-
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radar in England, Greenland and Alas.
ka, with reports also flashes by satellite
communication.
In addition, two satellites known as
mand center buried under Cheyenne
Mountain, Colo. When the missiles rise
above the horizon, they are tracked by
3
Since the day that Joshua fought the
battle of Jericho, military commanders
have wanted better weather forecasts.
Today two satellites circle the earth in
101-minute polar orbits so that each
sees the entire globe in 12 hours. Each
satellite scans a swath 1,600 miles wide,
transmitting pictures and infrared sen-
nuclear detonations
tect through the use sory data to ground stations and ships.
of beat sensors. In peacetime they ~ Because they show areas clear of
watch for explosions above the surface clouds, weather satellites tell operators
that might violate international agree- ! of photographic satellites where to posi-
meats. In wartime they would tell tion their craft.
United States commanders where nu-
clear warheads had struck, information . Geodetic Surveys Are Useful
needed to conduct a protracted conflict. Critical to United States interconti-
Intelligence on military dispositions nental, submarine-launched and cruise
comes from photograph satellites that ~ missiles are geodetic surveys done by
cover the world. An officer in the Penta- satellite. They measure the earth's
gars, asked some months. ago where gravitational pull, which affects missile
Recently those satellites have gath-
ered map data to be fed into computer
memories of cruise missiles. Those
flying torpedoes find a target with sen-
sors telling them where it is and where
they should go.
In navigation, the Global Positioning
System known as Navstar is revolution-
ary. It has six of 18 planned 1,000-pound
satellites in orbit, with the rest to go up
by 1988.
When fully operational, Navstar will
and farms well enough to make pictures enable ship captains, airplane pilots
and tank commanders to knowwithin 30
Two Tanks and a Bridge
"See where this road goes across this
river?" he said. "They have two tanks
there, one at either end of the bridge,
with their barrels pointed away from
the bridge and down the road." Asked
how be knew when no American had
been there for months, the officer just
stared back.
The satellites can be maneuvered to
photograph factories cxnstruction sites
took his visitor to a wall map.
comes rom sae r e p o ograp s of
crops.
They also' tell something of Russian
life. "I am always surprised," says a
naval officer who has seen pictures of
remote shipyards, "that there are no
parking lots around them. All the work-
ers must walk to work."
Those details can be important. An
official with a picture of a military base
in Nicaragua said confidently that it
had been built for Cubans, not Rus-
sians. "Cubans play baseball, Russians
play soccer." he said. "This base has a
baseball field."
of license plates. Much of American in-
Film Dropped by Parachute
Some satellite photographs are trans.:
mitted back electronically through a
three-satellite data system. When espe-
cially clear resolution is needed, film is
dropped by parachute and snatched
from the air by aircraft.
Listening to conversations with satel-
lites feeds the intelligence service with
prized information. Those satellite
operations run by the National Security
Agency are also closely guarded se-
crets. But James Bamford, author of
"The Puzzle Palace," a book about that
agency, estimates that four or five lis-
tening posts are in orbit.
They can listen in on long-distance
telephone calls, radio and satellite
transmissions, and telemetry from
Soviet missiles and can locate radar'
stations. To watch oceans, four Ameri-
can satellites look for Soviet warships
by using infrared sensors and listening
devices that scan radio transmissions.
feet their exact longitude, latitude and
altitude. In motion, they can tell their
speed within four inches per second.
Navigation by the Stars
General Henry of the Space Com-
mand says that when he was a lieuten-
ant 30 years ago "we navigated by the
stars and considered an accurancy of 10
miles to be pretty good." With Navstar
the margin for error has been slashed.
"A hundredth-of-a-mile navigation
accuracy has profound implications for
our strategic posture," General Henry
said. "It implies a surgical precision in
the application of force anywhere in the
world. That is awesome."
He suggested that a runway 5,000
miles away could be blasted with a mis-
sile armed with a 1,000-pound bomb. To
shoot missiles thousands of miles, he
suggested, meant being able to shed a
long supply line for heavy artillery.
For nuclear forces, that accuracy
means that nuclear missiles launched
from submarines will be as accurate as
those fired from the ground, a point cer-
tain to be emphasized by advocates of
deploying missiles at sea.
The Administration's military space program is laid out in the classified
five-year Defense Guidance that pro-
vides strategic direction for the armed
forces.
Space operations "add a new dimen-
sion to our military capabilities," says
the guidance document, asserting that
the United States must be able to defend
space operations and "to deny the
enemy the use of his space systems that
are harmful to our efforts during con-
flict."
..We must insure that treaties and
agreement do not foreclose opportuni-
ties to develop these capabilities," the
document said. "In particular, it must
be recognized that agreements cannot
protect our defense interests in space
during periods of hostilities."
The guidance document goes on to
order "the prototype development of
space-based weapons systems so that
we will be prepared to deploy fully de-
veloped and operationally ready sys-
tems should their use prove to be in our
national interest.,'
The directive gives priority to pro-
tecting satellites that warn of attacks
by Soviet missiles, to pursuing an an-
tisatellite system and to accelerating
technical developments that lead to
military advantage.
But the Administration insists that
weapons are not to be deployed in orbit.
Mr. DeLauer, the Under Secretary of
Defense, said, "Space policy does not
mandate new directions in space weap-
onry.""
Another priority is to enable satellites
to survive attack. Mr. Aldridge said
that satellites used to be designed to op-
erate in a "benign environment." Now,
he said, "We have recognized that our
systems must be able to operate in a
i hostile, wartime situation."
Air Force officers say that because
radiation from nuclear detonations m
space is a prime threat, United States'
satellites must be encased in protective
materials. To evade attack, American
satellites will rely on warning and es-
cape.
The Role of Deception
"We believe that in most situations,
the best counter to physical attack is es-
cape and evasion or maneuver," said
General Henry. "Small rocket motors'
make that possible."
Deception has its place. Scientists
J'G
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suggest that the secret technology in-
tended to permit Stealth aircraft to
evade detection by radar can be applied
to satellites.
Reconstituting a, damaged satellite
network also takes priority, A satellite
can be stored by lofting it into space,
testing it, then ordering it into a hidden
orbit where it drifts silently. If an oper-
ating satellite is knocked out, the stored
satellite is moved into place and acti-
vated.
Satellites can also be stored on the
ground near a rocket ready for launch-
ing. Air Force officers point out that the
Soviet Union had 16 satellites lofted
specifically to watch developments in
the South Atlantic in the Falkland
crisis.
"The Soviets have a production line
going," says Brig. Gen. John H. Storrie,
the Air Force's chief of space opera-
tions. "They shoot satellites off like
popcorn..,
`Simple and Responsive'
In a recent interview with Defense
Week, an industry newsletter, General
Storrie said, "What we, the military
users, are looking for is something sim-
ple and responsive, that we can put up
without having to wait months or
years.,'
The big new satellite-defense com-
munications network that is to be put
into initial operation in 1987 and full
operation in 1990 will be a seven-satel-
lite constellation known as Milstar.
Four satellites will be in stationary or-
bits while three circle in polar orbit.
Those satellites and a spare in orbit will
have electronic sensors to detect antisa-
tellite weapons and will be able to es-
cape an attack.
Mr. DeLauer says that Milstar "will
provide high-capacity, worldwide, jam-
resistant communications" around the
world except to the South Pole, with
transmitters and receivers in ships,
submarines, planes, tanks, and com-
mand posts. The system will eventually
operate on extremely high frequencies
that require antennae no bigger than
straight pins.
The defense guidance document also
instructs the military services to de-
velop reconnaisance satellites to scan
the Soviet Union after an initial nuclear
exchange, spotting military forces that
are being reassembled, thus providing
vital information for "waging pro.
tracted nuclear war."
Next: Advanced weaponry.
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