Article on Soviet Beam Weapons

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP95B00915R001000510010-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2013
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: May 19, 1977
• Content Type: MISC

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25X1
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Concept of a charged-particle beam weapon is based on the design of a negative hydrogen beam that is accelerated and neutralized by
passing the beam through a charge-exchange cell. In this ballistic missile defense concept, the collimated charge-particle beam is directed
USSR developing charged-particle device aimed at missile
defense, exploring high-energy lasers as satellite killer
By Clarence A. Robinson, .Ir.
Mashington?Soviet Union is developing a charged-p.irticic beam device designed to
destroy U. S. intercomMental and sabmarine-launched ballistic missile nuclear
wai rids. Development rests are being conducted at a facility in Soviet Central Asia.
The Soviets 'iso are exploring- another
facet of beam weapons technology and pper. atmosphere. , The USAI-LT_RW
preparing to test a spaceborne hydrogen
lock 647 defense su _fort system e?
fluoride high-energy laser designed for a warning satellite with scanning radiation
sat;it!,e killer role. U. S. officials have 4etectors las been
coined the term directed-energy weapons used to oetermi?ne that on seven oceasi-orit,
in referring to both beam weapons and st NM=
high-energy lasers. relate_d_Lo_development of
A charged-particle beam weapon fo- article beardd cc have been carried out
cus,-, and projects atomic partlidcthths- in a aci. ty at emipalatinsk.
?speed of ligji,t whicli could be directe 0 Ground testing of a small hydrogen
'Irom ground-based- sites into space to fluoride high-energy-laser and detection of
intercept and neutralize reentry vehicles, preparations to launch the device on board
according to U. S. officials.. Both the a spacecraft. Some U. S. officials believe
USSR and the U. S. also are investigating the test .of the antisatellite laser may be
the concept of placing charged-particle related to recent -Soviet activities on a
beam devices on spacecraft to intercept manned Salyut space station.
missile warheads. in space. This method 0 Test of a new. L re )owerful
would avoid problems whit propagating fusion ulse2- ma meto drod mimic
the beam throngh the erth's atmosphere. .erator to )rovi er.-er for a c large
Because 01 a controversy within thc )article beam
U. S intelligence comnmilit y, jfie_Jle-tails ,._sian_.;near the Caspian Sea. The experi-
of Soviet dire,e6-A,energ? weapons hayc.., inent tool, place late last year rin an under:,
noi mLt- a
de vLiik cl tble ? Abe Presiden_ wound clilim a
ber in n ,:ire,t of n:ttural stlt
- -
or 60 ;he_iSlational Seeury. Council. lome mis in the desert_,,.
R ecent events have persuaded it number rid was monitor( d by the TRW early
of U S. analysts that directed-energy warning satellite stationrd over the Indian
weapons are nearing prototype testing it Ocean.
the Soviet Union. ey a Ne\.- te
0 Detection of large .1!!lountsof yin- direct
cous hydrogen with trace. ,.);. tritium in the
Le
11
Si
1-0
defense lor;:d TVO Stcany), commanded
by Marshal of the Soviet Army General
P. F. Batitskiy. Since the PVC) Strany,
would be res onsible tor mit a beam
\yea )on to counter %Aid
a rs
term weaponsapplication,for these exvi-
ments,U. S. officials believ.
oyoint-by.-point _veri.ficatioibby a team.
of U.S. Physicists a-nd engineers working
under USAF sponsorship. that- the Soviets
had achieved a level of success in each of
seven areas of high-energy physics neces-
sary to develop a beam weapon.
0 Shifts in position by a number of
experienced high-energy physicists, who
earlier discounted the Soviet capability to
develop the technology for a charged-
particle beam device. There is now
grudging admission that the USSR. is
involved in a program that could produce.
such?a weapon.
!a Recent revelations by Soviet physicist
Leonid I. Rudakov during a tour las.
141111111er of U. S. fusion laboratories that
the USSR can convert electron beam
energy to compress fusionable material to
release maximum fusioi, energy Much of
the data outlined by Rudakov during his
visit to the Lawrence Livermore Labora-
tory has since been labeled Lop secret by
the Defense Dept. and . the Energy
Research anti Development 'Administra-
tion, but it gave a chic to U. S. scientists'
that '4of _tht.sU:S in
euntrfjn by i, ? ? ), Tie
com -s_
pression ottakill oellets of thermal
-.1,11(..j.64,61iip.;)_a.ad_Nv'eapons based?C.1"r;
tech nolo,gy.
STAT
STAT
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toward a target. Using. a space-based design for a charged-particle beam weapon avoids effects of the earth's magnetic field on the beam
and th task of propagating the beam through the atmosphere. Both the USSR and U. S. have space-based experimental concepts.
STAT
?0 Pattern of activity in the USSR,1J...212g, ills of reinfou,2,aLciateriaeL14-
including deplo:onent ofdarge over-the- J1.?ITiick, the entire_facilih its ass.-
horizon radars in northern Russia to c'iated su ion t ecui ment
, detect and track U. S. ICBM reentry vein- lave
des, development and deployment of, The test site is at the southern edge of
precision inechmaela/Dhasecl-arrav, the Semipalatinsk nuclear test area, and it
ballistic missile raciars and massive eiTOH-77 is separated from other test facilities. It is
alined al civil defense. surround .es of
misirlid.e is liTiTr7TiTra u within the U. S. IThe total amount invested.by the USSR
scientilic or intelligence communities that in the test project for the 10 years':.'work
the Soviets are involved in developing there is estiMated at SI billion .by U. S.
STAT igh-onergyteeI I
.mo_ogy components that analysts.
could be used to produce a charged- The -
particle beam weapon, but there is a great ,graphic_r_ecolnalssance satellites to wate_b?
difference of opinion among officials over a..s_lhe Soviet technicians had four holes
whet her such a device is now being dug tffiontb solid 'r mite formations not
constructed or tested in the USSR. far from the main ane
In increasing numbers, U. S. officials facility. Mine heads were constructed over
are coming to a conclusion that a decisive e"57.11 opening, and?rEimes were Balt over,
turn in the balance of strategic power is in The holes As tuns of rocuaaasunsaicd
the making, which could tip that balance large under 'round chamber was built d
heavily in the Soviets' favor through
charged-particle beam development, and
the development of energetic strategic
laser Weapons.
Most of the controversy centers On what Washington ?Senior U.S. scientists and engineers believe.that this nation is on the
tests are being.conducted in an unusual verge of a heated debate over the strategic implications of charged-particle beam
research facility about 35 mi. south, of the development in the Soviet Union and the U. S.
city of Semipalatinsk "That debate is. just getting under way and it is likely to rival the `Fortress America
.
,Great Defense Debate' in 1952 involving Taft [Sen. Robert A. Taft], the 8-36 bomber
In r_ the lace of mounting evidence_ of'
Siet fforts iiimed at deVeloping and-strategic defense policies," one U. S. official said.
ov e,.
httrgcd pLtrticle beam we:tpo n lot Some observers see .an ominous parallel between the attitude of some U. S.
c,T: _ anti s
ScientificT
. scientists toward beam weapons and that of the late Dr. Vannevar Bush toward, the
e Force's
.echnical Intelligence Commit-
feasibility of intercontinental ballistic missiles in the mid-1940s. The highly respected
tee (STIC) has scheduled a fall fleeting
scientist, who had directed the U.S. military research effort during World War 2,
i to
review new data. testified bfore a Senate committee in December, 1945: "There has been a great deal
The Semipalatinsk Inch where beam said about a 3,000-mi. high-angle rocket. . . In my. opinion, such a thing is
'weapons tests art' )1.11.: impossible.. . . I say technically I don't think anybody in the world knows how to do
Q_119
..............''die S tor such a thing and I,feel confident it will not be done for a very long period of time to
..,?LboiLt
"
.10 The central building -at. the come.
facility is believed by some officials to
Within eight years, the U.S. would initiate its own massive. effort to develop long-
contain 'a collective acceka.iitur, electron range ballistic missiles, and within 10 years, the Soviet Union would be testing just
injectors and Tower stores, such a long-range ballistk-: missile.
The buddin is 200 ft. wide and 700 lit.
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s3Lis.13.2.111.eu:.
In a nearby building, huge, c
thick steel Tore,s_w_eie manufactured. The
building has since been removed. :These
steel sc'ments w f a lar s here-)
estimite
in diameter.. Enou h "ores for two.
coa,?
officials believe the spheres are needed to
capture and store energy from nuclear-
driven explosives or pulse-power genera-
tors. The steel gores are believed by some
officials to be among the earliest clues as
to what might be taking place at the
facility.
The components were moved to the
nearby mine heads and lowered into the
chamber.
Some other U_S. physisisis believe the,
Steel torOs are des' d for underaround_,
nuclear fuel for. a
STAT
? ill
Is
5
It.
storage of unused
Debate Seen on Charged-Particle Work
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?
'First operational squadron of Air Force/McDonnell Douglas F-15 fighter aircraft flew
from Langley AFB, Va., to Bitburg Air Base, West Germany, last week in a single
movement designed to show USAF capability to reinforce' NATO forces rapidly. The
flight involved. 23 F-15s, including two TF-15 trainers.
The 525th Tactical, Fighter Squadron, led by *Brig. Gen. Frederick C. Kyler,
commander of the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing, arrived at Bitburg after a 7-hr flight with
four in-flight ref uelings. Three of the unit's F-15s already were in place. Two additional
F-15 squadrons are to move to Bitburg?by.the end of the summer to bring the wing to
full strength.
Gen. Kyle,' reported on arrival to Gen. Franz-Joseph Schulze, commander-in-chief
of Allied Forces, Central Europe, The 525th squadron was trained in the U. S. and was
operational on arrival.
The flight was made with the aircraft grouped in three cells of six aircraft and One
cell of five, with abolit 30 min. separation between cells. Flight routing was?along the
U. S. and Canadian east coasts to Newfoundland, then across the Atlantic, Britain and
Belgium to Bitburg.
Maintenance personnel were in place at Bitburg before the squadron arrived, with
some having been trained in the U.S. and some at. Bitburg.
antic or eloseds_y_ele41:4
ver betuu,
4.7e-fission process nee
Weapons or for ? g_sscaste_p d ts
rrom the, fission process.
blems in gaining
acceptance of the concept Within the U. S.
scientific, community was to convince
high-energy physics experts that the
Russians might be using nuclear explosive
generators as a power source to drive
accelerators- capable of producing high
intensity proton beams of killing poten-
tial.
Initially; some U. S.. physicists believed
there was no method the Soviets could use
to weld together the steel gores of the
spheres to provide a vessel strong enough
to withstand pressures likely to occur in
the nuclear explosive fission process,
particularly 'when the steel. to be welded
was extremely thick. U. S. officials later
discovered that the Russians. invented a
process called flux welding and had-been
using it for years in producing pressure
spheres. The flux welding process, accord-
in.g to some U. S. officials, makes the
bonded material weld as strong as, or
stronger than, the steel walls.
U. S. officials, scientists and engineers
queFied said that the technologies that can
be applied to produce a beam ' weapon
include:
ni I:. \plosive or pulsed power generation
through either fission or fusion to achieve
peak pulses of power.
In Giant capacitors capable of storing
?extremely high _levels. of power for frac-
tions of a second.
In Electron injectors capable of gener-
ating high-energy pulse streams of elec-
irons' at high veloc?ties. This is critical to
producing some types of beam weapons.
ni Collective accelerator to. generthe
electron pulse streams or hot gas plasma
necessary to accelerate other subatomic
particles at high velocities.
et Flux compression tc cenveri energy
from exploive generators to energy, to
produce the electron beam.'
3 Switching necessary to store the
energy from the generators in large capac
itOrs.
a Development of pressurized line,
needed -to transfer the pulses from the
generators to power stor,.:S. The 'linestinti
be 'cryogenically cooled because of the
extreme power levels involved.
For several years, Air Force Maj. Gen.
George J. Keegan, who until his recent
retirement headed USA F's intelligence
activities, has been trying to convince the
Central Intelligence Agency and a number
of top U. S. high-energy physicists that the
Soviets are developing a charged-particle
beam weapon for use in an antiballistic
missile role.
Evidence was gathered by Air Force
intelligence from a variety of sources,
including early warning and high-resolu-
tion reconnaissance satellites, published
USSR papers on high-energy physics and
'visits. between Soviet and Free World
physicists. In contacts with scientists
deeply involved in developing components
necessary for beam weapon application in
both the USSR and the U. S., data was
gleaned that clearly showed the Russians
to be years ahead of the U.S. in most
areas of technology, one U. S. physicist
said. He added that it became increasingly
clear that the Soviets were Making a
concerted effort to develop the technology'
in each area ?so that, if it. was pulled
together, a beam weapon and possibly
related laser weapons could result.
All of the evidence that Gen. Keegan
and his small team gathered about Soviet
designs on charged-particle beams was
presented to the CIA and its Nuclear
Intelligence Board, which has so far
rejected their conclusion that beam weap-
ons development is evident,
Most of the evidence had been gathered
coKer_tLfour-yeur :periodmd involved the
entire spectrum of facilities for test and
experimentation, research laboratories,
power generation, electron injection col-
lective -acceleration and beam propaga-
?
tion?all areas where the Soviet Union'has
outpaced the U. S., according to a U. S.
Sonic scientists and engineers refusedto
accept information that the installation at
Semipalatinsk had anything to do with
beam-generation tests or that levels of
energy required for these .experiments
could be attained. And even if so aehow
the energy could be generated, it could not
be harnessed for beam application, they
said.
Energy Levels Required
Typical levels of energy required for use
with a beam weapon are 10'' joules per
pulse, with the energy of-a particle of the
beam from 1 to 1.00 giga electron volts. It
is these levels of energy required that still
cause some skepticism among high-energy
phySicists.
"Keegan refused to accept CIA's evalu-
ation'of the USAF intelligence data," one
U. S. official said. "So, he systematically
set about acquiring talented young physi-
cists to analyze!' the information and to
probe the basiC physics of the problem
inarea in which U..S. scientists were
notably deficient."
One scientist in particular, a USAF
Civilian employe at Wright-Patterson
AFB, Ohio, was influential in providing
Gen. Keegan with an assessment of the
information, which *said that it appeared
the facility at Semipalatinsk was being
developed for use for nuclear power gener-
ation related to beam weapon 'work. His
assessment was made very early in the
observation of the facility, long before
-atmospheric data of possible beam weap-
ons testing was obtained.
"These young physicists gathered to his.
cause by George [Gen. Keegan] Were a
Very sharp group of young turks,?and some
have since gone on to. gain stature within
the high-energy physics crowd," one offi-
cial said. ?
It was anticipated by Gen. Keegan and
his advisers that the USSR wouhi be
forced to vent gaseous hydrogen from the
experiments at Semipalatinsk and that
early warning satellites could detect it.
Underground Testing
Liquid hydrogen in large amounts is.
believed by' some officials to be utilized to
cushion the. nuclear 'explosive generator
sphere and for cryogenic pumping of large
drift tubes nearly a kilometer in length
through which the beams are propagated
for underground testing. In' both cases,
large amounts of gaseous hydrogen' are
formed and released into the atmosphere,
'probably co an large amounts of
nuclear debris or iogivc'tritjtuhii
tLin
can be ex loded at altitude and dispersed
to avoi
armin the ?eo 1- below,
-
according to seine U. . scientists.
"Explosions of such _gaseous hydrogen
discharges are now being- detc-cied with
regularity' from. Soviet experimen?s, a
U, S. official said, "and scientific studies
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I l5 771, 'S'S ?7t5' t tau'Vraitrzi.ina
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Experimental auto-resonant accelerator concept shows the hardware
configuration in diagram. The design is to determine whether the
accelerated plasma wave can be grown in a laboratory and whether
collective acceleration of protons can be achieved. The illustration
shows 'that the more efficient acceleration of particles may be
of the gas. releases and explosions have
confirmed their source as being.near the
Semipalatinsk facility."
? ,USAF intelligence. developed an acro-
nym ?PNUT--- to refer to 11116-test area at
'Semipalatinsk. .The letter P is for possible,
- and the other 'letters stand for nuclear
underground test. The CIA still refers to
the site as URDF-3unidentified .re-
search and development facility three. ?
. In recent public pronouncements, Gen-.
Keegan has taken the CIA ?to task for
having: rejected Air Force intelligence
information about Soviet 'beam. weapon
development. He also has spoken bitterly
about a number of .top U.S.. physicists
who refuse to 'accept even the possibility
that the Soviets are involved in beam
weapon development. Most of the physi-
cists who would not accept the data were
older members of the scientific community
who had been involved in research and
development from the early days of a
project called Seesaw. .
?
Project Abandoned
The U.S. attempted unsuccessfully to
develop a charged-particle, beam device
?..under the .project code named Seesaw. It
was funded ;by the Defen-se Dept.'s
Advanced Research Projects' Agency but
abandoned after several years..
A number of influential U.S. physicists
sought to discredit Gen. Keegan's evidence
about...3Oviet lica in development The gen-
eral attitude within the. scientific commu-
nity was that, if the U.S. could not
successfully produce the technology to
have a beam Weapon, the Russians
certainly could not. "It was the original
not-invented,here attitude," one U. 5,
physicist said.
There were ?about 20 hypotheses ad-
vanced by these -physicists and .the CIA's
'Aviation Week & Space Technology-. MIy 2. 1977
possible using the concept where a traveling wave in an electron
beam traps and accelerates protons. The relativistic beam is rriOre
than simply a medium for propagation of the ,wave. 11 is the active
medium that serves as the power source for reinforcing the electric
field of the wave and for accelerating the ions.
Nuclear Intelligence Board as to what the
facility at Semipalatinsk was being used
for .by the USSR. One theory was that it
was a supersonic ramjet test site and
another was that it was a 'nuclear reactor.
test Site: for commercial, applications. . That
was based on the layout., which resembled
some reactors in the USSR.
"There is now no doubt that there is
dumping of energy taking place at the site
with burning of large h dro ten flames."
one official said. "W at ot ered the
Nuclear Intelligence Bbard at first was
that it was hard. to imagine that ? some
seven technologic] critical to the weapons
concept could be perfected there within
the time frame presented and not be
detected by us.
"In each case, the Air Force was able to
disprove the theories advanced, at least to
USAF satisfaction," one U. S. official
said. "But ? along the way Keegan became
an outcast within CIA and the Defense
Intelligence Agency. This was despite the
fact that many times in the past it turned
out that his intelligence information
proved correct when it .was not accepted at
first. He [Keegan] made some great intel-
ligence breakthroughs," another official
said.
As evidence of Soviet intent mounted,
the Air Force convened a munitions panel
of its Scientific Advisory Board to
examine the problem. The panel met at
Livermore Laboratory for three days to
'study the data of Gen. Keegan and his
technologists. .Some members of. that
panel also were involved in the Seesaw
project before it was halted.
"The panel of experts rejected - vitually
all of the Air 'Force's 1;ypotheses. In an
emotional meeting, they denigrated all
suggestions of nuclear explosion genera-
tion, power .storage, power transmission
and collective acceleration," an . official
explained. "The bottom line?was th.tt the
panel said there is no way to control or
stabilize such a beam if a weapon. Is
produced. Tlw net result is that evidence
about possible beam weapons development
was rejected."
Later, some of the same physicists who
rejected the charged-particle beam data
realized the Soviets had made progress in
many separate? areas of required tech-
nology for beam weapon application.
Some physicists involved sought funding
from the National Science Foundation
and Energy Research and? Development
Administration for nuclear power and
beam generation studies, one official said.
? In an effort to prove that USAF intelli-
gence estimates were correct, Gen. Kee-
gan and his young physicists set aboto
trying to prove Soviet technology exists in
areas necessary for beam weapons.
Theoretical Blocks Isolated
After isolating the theoretical road-
-blocks identified by the Scientific Advi-
sory Board's munitions panel, the physi-
cists, along with several new groups
recruited by Gen. Keegan, went to work
exploring possible USSR technologies.
Within a few months the team, under
the direction of a young Air Fore,. paysi-
cist, found that all the munitions panel's
object ions Coll Id be overcome "and had
already been solved in the Soviet Union.
Several- breakthroughs in high-energy
physics were involved," an ?ollicial
Explosive generation was solved ?in the
USSR by Soviet tIcAeinicians :Andrei
Terletsky, who was once a KGB agent M
Sweden, and Andrei Sakharov, who was
instrumental in developing the Soviet
hydrogen bomb and is now a dissident.
Soviet physicist Rudakov visited the
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?
U. S. in July, 1976, and outlined his major
advances in electron beam fusion. ER DA
immediately tried to cover up the ideas he
presented at Livermore in response to a ?
taunt by a Western. scientist. It was all
considered highly secret in the U. S. and
"those seated there had to sit with their
mouths open and not respond to Ruda-
kov's outline,7 one U.S. physicist said.
"His idea startled the U. S. physics
community, by its magnitude--lransform-
inglaser and electron beams to soft X-rays
to compress fusion net at low energy
This is a teal scientific break-
through," the physicist said, "and could
allow them to produce large amounts of
fusion power to be Used in producing
energy for a beam weapon." Rudakov had
such -good results in using relativistic elec-
tron beams to achieve fusion that he now
is developing a $55-million machine
funded for tliis purpose in Russia called
Angara 5, a physicist added.
Gen. Keegan and his physics tenni
quickly determined that the next problem
to be resolved was flux coMpression
needed to convert encrgy from explosive
generation to electricalenergy to.power an
accelerator.
"Throu ?en so r letri ? d
that since solved that
prohlct' one expert said.
U. S. scientists meeting at Livermore
objected and said that power pulses gener-
ated could not be conducted over known
cabling without burning it up until Gen.
Keegan's researchers discovered that pres-
surized gas lines invented in the U. S.
years earlier by ITT and General Electric
were available and in use by the USSR.
Reconnaissance Data
,Pipes at the Semi_pidatinsk site leading,
,from the unsiou_nd Cha mber WStIi
spotted by reconnaissance satellite but
they were discounted by the CIA any
munitions panel as being there for anothei
application, possibly to exhaust supersonic
ramjets.
revealed a IllItill.1.4.1L,Lar_Susa
tit site., loaded . with liquid hydrogen.
'USAF' intelligence officials-believed it was.
being used by the Soviets for cryogenic
pumping of beam drift tubes. This was
considered impossible by U. S. scientists
because they believe liquid hydrogen is too
volatile and dangerous. for cryogenic use.
Again, however, papers have been publish-'
ed in the USSR on the subject, and liquid
hydrogen has been used for years for that
-purpose. One official said.?
Officials believe that cabling leading
front the underground granite chamber it
'Semipalatinsk carrie4z,wer
c.( plosive gener=r ta_aLit_b_l ransfori .ems
77...1.,.u.?1,t...41 Stepped up ifilc power is ca cc
into giant Capacitors inside one end oft he
large thick-walled building, they believe.
Along the 70041. side are located the
electron injector gun and the collective
accelerator, according to their theory. The
power is ted into them to prodUCe a proton
In-House Research ?
Washington ?U. S. Air Force and Navy
are expected by. Fiscal 1978 to cut in-
house research and exploratory develop-
ment to approximately 35%, with , 65%
being contracted out, a Defense Dept.
official -told Congress.
. This is approximately the goal set a
year ago (Aw&s-r June 7, 1976, p. 47),
John L. Allen said during testimony
before the House Armed Services sub-
committee on research and develop-
ment. Allen is deputy director of Defense
research and engineering for research
and advanced technology.
Earlier, the Navy agreed to a cut. of
3,000 persons and the USAF to a reduc-
tion of 1,000. These reductions were to
be accomplished within ,each service's
research and development staff and were
not limited to in-house laboratories.
The goal for the Army was placed at
2,900, employes, a figure to which that
service has not yet agreed, although
discussions are in progress. Allen ac-
knowledged that the Army is "heavily in-,
house" oriented and would have to shift
personnel from laboratory wofk to
achieve the 35% goal.
beam. The beam is bent at an angle by
magnetic mirrors and propelled near the
speed of light along the drift tubes running
underground about a kilometer, they
believe, and the drift tubes are evacuated
to simulate operating the beam in space
and are used only for beam propagation
testing.
At one time, there were five concentric,
rings constructed around the buddin)
about vinwesams a xirt. At each 5
of 'arc, a vertical sensor was placak At
irst, U. S. analysts believed this arrange-
nein was to monitor movement of gaseous.
tydrogen clouds. The ,eometr was so'
)recise, hoiLe/ yer, that some_laeliaved the
sensors wersLiocated to measure_b_eatn,
..itlp_a_et or for beam tracking?, ?
Storing energy to manage its flow was
the next area of technology that Gen.
Keegan and his scientists investigated. -
They discovered that the Soviets had
solved the problem earlier by using large
water capacitors to store energy. Dense
fields of' energy/electricity can be stored
using pressurized water as a dielectric
with pressure to 100 atmospheres. This is
considered mother breakthrough by U. S.
physicists, because the USSR can store 40
times the density of energy that can be
stored in the Free World, one official
explained. "This technology is now being
developed in the U. S.," he added, after it
was completely verified .under a contract
with the Defense Nuclear Agency..
For the past 15 years there has been an
open and free exchange between the U.S.
and the USSR in the high-energy physics
area, one U. S. physicist explained. That
exchange is related mostly to projects for
?
? nuclear power generation for commercial
application,' but by its very nature, the
development of energy or offshoots of the
technology has application to the beam.
weapons field, the official said.
"This is a field where to our knowledge
.there are few secrets. We go freely to their
[USSR] laboratories and have few doors
barred to us," a U. S. high-energy.physi-
cist said, "and the same thing is ti ue for
them in this country." This does not apply
to laboratories where weapons develop-
ment is being 'carried out.
Gen. Keegan's scientifiL: team. set out to
prove the feasibility in another area of:
Soviet technology required for beam
weapons use?switching. Switching the
energy from its storage capacitors to the
electron injector is a major element
required for the weapon to functidn,
according to U. S. experts.
A small U. S. company has devised a
breakihrough in switching technology, a
U. S. scientist explained, and has patented
it.. Theoretical feasibility has now been
fully established, the scientist added.
The electron,Mjector was the ?next area
of investigation on which the team focused
its attention. For this to be successful,
several engineers have explained, a gener-
ator is needed to provide a steady stream
of rapidly pulsed plasma of 100 million
electron volts pet pulse at levels' of 10'
mega joules/sec.
"This iS pure Buck Rogers to the physi-
cists at Livermore Laboratory, who
refused to accept that the Soviets could,
iccomplili it," one U. S. official said.
U. S. scientists since have been able to
confirm that Soviet high-energy institutes
long ago solved problems of electron injec-
tion that .place them years ahead of U. S.
technology. "At the Institute of High-
Energy Physics in .Novosibirsk, U. S.
scientists have found generator technology
that, when scaled up, can be used as an
electron injector." Such equipment is now
being exported to the U. S. for commercial
use. The Soviet technology involved is at
least 10 years ahead of anything tinder
development in the U. S.
CIA Chief informed
In 1975, Gen Keegan disclosed his find-
-ings on Soviet technology related to beam
Weapons development to William Colby,
then head of the CIA, and to a number of
its nuclear scientificadviSers.
"On the strength of -Keegan's informa-
tion that the Soviets were on the verge of
developing a weapon toneutralize our
ICBMs and SLBMs, Colby directed the
formal 'convening of the CIA's Nuclear
Intelligence Panel to consider the disclo-
sures," according to. a U. S. official.
In a tinal meeting last rear with the
panel, Gen. Keegan and -his associates
presented evidence over a three-day period
to the panel. The panel went into executive
session tO study the data and then wrote its:
report. No copy of the report was ever "
presented to USAF intelligence.
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STAT
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DIODE
POWER
SUPPLY
WAVE
GROWTH
SECTION
ACCELERATION
SECTION
INJECTION
SECTION
PROTON
INJECTION
PROTON
BUNCH
MAGNETIC
FIELD COILS
MAGNETIC
LINES
Collective accelerator principle in a schematic drawing shows that more efficient ,acceleration of particles may be possibie when a tr2veling
wave in an electron beam traps and accelerates the protons.
That is: standard, one official said,
because copies of .the report are routed
only to ? those in Authority .within the
CIA.
"What the 'report said was that there
were mo technological errors in USAF's
analytical work. It was agreed by the
board that there is a massive .effort in the
USSR involving hundreds of laboratories
and thousands of .top scientists to develop
the technology:necessary, for production of
a beam or other energy weapon for use
against U. S. ICBMs and SLBMs," an
'official said. The report also said the
board was unable .10 accept USA F's
detailed conclusions regarding the experi-
mental site at Semipalatinsk. It rca oiled
caccordi 2 0 s vet-
?
ne of tI
ncc
mistamannitteramittr.
'et in tie U. S wa
im at
ronmumm
Is cou
?
C SO-
ar
a
e In any .event, the . sewn?
c aevisers to CIA were unwilling to
concede that the Soviets cOnld. harness
such advanced technology into a working
weapon or demonstration system.
They were willing to accept that the
technology had been ,developed indepen-
.dently, but not that it has been used in
series for Weapons work at either Semipal-
atinsk or Azgir, Officials said.
'Colby wrote a letter to former Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger just before he
left on .a trip te negotiate with the Soviets
about strategi.c arms. limitations ?and
mentioned that there "was ? a facility
related to nuclear functions that were
unknown but. that it might have high
scientific application," one official said.
'With that exception, none of the USAF
intelligence data has ever been made avail-
able to the President, the secretary of
State or the National Security Council, he
added. '
.The major argunient now, raging within
Aviation Week & Spce Technolom May 2, 1977
the intelligence community is whether the.
facility at Semipalatinsk is experimental
in nature and whether if will require a
Major effort by the USSR over many
years to build more such facilities to use
for weapons purposes.
"One of the problems is that some U. S.
intelligence officials and ,scientists ha?
w-
? difficulty in understanding' the concepts
involv -The technology us beyond.
t teir comprehension,",an official said. The
facility at Semipalatinsk is an example,
the official continued. It depends on how, it
is visualized. "This is a case where the
experimental hardware. is identical to the.
equipment nee, -sary to destroy 'an ICBM.
If the can 'crier d- -)artic
earn to tcs
o o en ein
'y are, Llt bunea, c or
The .giant vacuum drift tube under-
ground at the facility is used only to
simulate upper .atomspheric and space
conditions for the tests;.in operational use,
the weapon's beam would be fired front
the collective accelerator front end. .
?After 10 Years or work at the site awl
:_ye,ar thing required
to scale the device for weapons ica-
ioi he said. That:could he accomprished
WTs early as 1978 with it prototype beam
we'apon, and it could be in an operational
form by 1980, some officials believe.
'Another big objection offered by some
U. S. physicists and other scientists is that
the beam from such a weapon vill have to
be propagated and bent to intercept
incoming warheads in reentry 'vehicles, an
extremely difficult task.
One possible .solution is that a "mag-
netic, mirror" can be used for beam
bending to intercept reentry vehicles.
Despite strenuous objections from L. S.
scientists over the 'feasibility uf beam
bending, USAF intelligence established a
Soviet solution to the problem for the
Soviet beam concept, an official
Precise pointing and tracking may not
be required. "All that is needed is for the
Soviet long-range precision radars now .
deployed in violation of the A I3N4 agree-
ment to detect avenues or windows for.
reentry vehicle trajectories against i'argets
in the, USSR. . By :liming rapidly pulsed
proton beaMs into these windows, ICBMs
and SLBMs could be quickly saturated
and destroyed,' lie expained.
The windows would be loci,k. fro;;?,
1,000 to 2,000 man. mi. out M space
"With this method, many acquisition and
tracking problems could, be overcome. By
using the window concept to scatter thc
hewn over a wide ire.:1 through which
warheads must transit, it is behe, id that
not many he tit weapon devices would bc
required to protect the USSR from a U. S.
retaliatory strike," the official said.
Many deployment schemes of grea
simplicity tic open to the Russians. (The
such'scheme would be to place the collec-
tive accelerators vertically inside silos tha;
the USSR now, claims are for conintind.
control and communication.
There are at least of these ,fios th .
the U. S. is now overlooking b%
the ? Soviet definition as conitnaith ti
control centers for their use. tdsei-...i
silos linked to those with the accelo-a.or
for containment of the e\ plosive. gynera-
tor. the Soviets could deploy such a systen-,
within a few years, an official said
"Since the necessary radars are ttcaritma
operational readiness. in: needed
system components could be emplaced,"
he added.
"The one thing that (;eor,:e
Keegan' finds so pernicioGs a bunt this
whole- thing is' that CIA and other fur
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U.S. officials scoff at the idea that the
backward Russians can develop technolo-
gy that we have been unable to develop in
the U. S. ," one official said. "He [Kee-
gan l admits that he could be Wrong, but
he is not wrong about the Soviets' will to
produce such a weapon and about the
national'aSsets they are devoting to it."
From all of this evidence we have a
good idea of where the Soviets are in,
development and where they are headed
with beam weapons and high-energy;
lasers.;Niii _much Luw ht.on done in 'this
country since Seesaw." :t U. S. physicist
said. "But there is certainly a kit of new
interest now within the scientific commu-
nity."
There is an effort under way to establish
an. agency in the U. S. to coordinate the
development of directed-energy weapons.
Some congessional staff members as well
as officials within the Administration are
pressing for this to be accomplished.
Fragmented Development
"Devdopment is now fragmented with
various' factions froM a number .of agent
cies and laboratories trying to compete for
funding. What is needed now is for a
control point to be set up with some colic-.
sion and orderly planning to develop the
various components of technology re-
quired for weapons," ? one ,House staff
member said.
John L. Allen, deputy director of
Defense research and engineering for
'research and advanced ?technology, said:
? "Sc;ence fiction writers have been f(isci-
fl at ed with the concept of a directed-
energy weapon that beams energy directly
to a target, obviating the need. for bombs, ?
missiles oi= projectiles. A weapon of this
type now appears not only to he, possible,
but we may even have a' choice of the
beamS that can be ,used . . electrons or
other fundamental particles.
"These beams, travel at or near , the
speed of light [186,000 mi.7sec.1 so that
the delivery time is negligible, an aurae- -
tive-attribute for a weapon. The beams can
also be 'moved rapidly from one target to
the ,next. Thus, for defense against nearly
simultaneous multiple attackers, directed-
energy weapons are appealing." ?
He, added that high-energy lasers .are
the most advanced of the directed-energy
devices. "About 10 years ago, it became
apparent that the generation and propaga-
tion of damaging levels of energy might be
feasible," Allen explained. "However, the
technical .problems foreseen were formid-
able. High power is needed .for useful
lethal ranges. The achievement of such
high poWer requires a strong foundation of
basic knowledge of the physics and chem-
istry, of highly excited gases, coupled with,
in some systems, sophisticated high-
volume, high-velocity gas flow technology.
The, flow rates involved in gas dynamic
high-energy lasers are like those from a jet
engine. Tho, physical size is also compar-
able to a jet engine." ?
.Allen said the Defense , Dept.'s Ad-
vanced Research Projects Agency and the
services are inves'igating the application
of high-energy. lasers. "Both the Army and
Navy are pursuing terrestrial applications.
?The Air Force is pursuing airborne appli-
cations, .and the Defense Advance Re-
search Projects Agency is looking at the
possible application of lasers in space
defense with en-iphasis on chemical lasers."
It is still too early to determine the poten-
tial cost effectiveness of high-energy lasers
as weapons, but the next two or three
year; will yield a great deal of insight."
Problems Cited
"Particle beams?beams of electrons,
for example ?are not directly affected by
the weather and may provide longer
ranges than high-energy lasers in adverse
weather. However, they have other 'Prob-
lems. Charged-particle beams have a
tendency to be unstable. They also are
deflected by magnetic fields, so' pointing
and tracking uncerlainties exist. If these.
problems can be solved, a viable weapon
could result. We believe that charged-
particle weapons might, in some applica-
tions, present a usefL', alternative or
complement to- the high-energy laser for
giving us 'zero time of flight' weapons. We
are pursuing projects at an exploratory
level," Allen told the House Armed
Services research and development sub-
committee.
The Navy is seeking $6 million in. Fiscal
1978 for a program called Chair Heritage
to continue, exploratory development ,of
'beam weapons, mostly related to aCceler-
ator development. It plans to transition to
advanced development in Fiscal 1979.
.Navy is now working on a scaled-down
advanced test accelerator. The design for
the device was selected in 'July, 1976, and
experiments with the accelerator are
slated for completion in August, 1978..
The auto-resonant accelerator, a num-
ber of knowledgeable physicists ?believe,
offers the potential for generating low-
cost, extremely intense. beams of .high-
energy heavy particles. The device is.
believed capable of generating beams .of
ions in the giga electron volt range. Power
levels would be in the range of 10" w. with
pulse lengths on the order of a Microsec.,
i.e., single pulses with an energy of 1-10
megajoules. ,
From the military 'application stand,
point, the auto-resonant accelerator has
the potential for being used to deliver the
equivalent of pounds of TNT to blast
targets at long range at the sneed of
The effects of neutron. lot X-ray and
gamma radiation would have an equally
destructive impact on warheads. Austin
Research Associates is doing basic re-
search with the..aufo-rescatant accelerator.
With a program of technology develop-
ment, senior experts in physics believe,
substantially higher energy levels can be
delivered to targets at longer ranges.,
The auto-resonant accelerator not
?
limited, to pulsed operation. That limita-
tion now is ,from the design of associated
electron-beam diodes and power Supplies.
If E.-beam diodes and power supplies can
be developed that can be repetitively
pulsed at the rate of 100-1,000 pulses/sec.
for several seconds, average beam powers
in the 1,000-megawatt range tre believed
possible. .
"A number of military .applications are
possible by changing the total energy
requirements and repetition rates. Some of
these missions are close at' hand," a U. S.
physicit said.
Under current funding, U. S. officials
are convinced that M. L. Sloan and
William E. Drummond will complete their
mathematical model for the auto-resonant
accelerator by July. In a paper on the
accelerator concept, Sloan and Drum-
mond explain the principle: a conceptually
simple and compact method of generating
pulsed - ion beams in the multi-ampere
current range.
This accelerator scheme combines the
basic concepts ,of traveling wave and
collective acceleration. While the traveling
wave is used for the acceleration?process,
the wave is a collective eigenmode Of the
electron beam-magnetic. guide field cylin-
drical guide system rather than a vacuum
.wave guide mode as in a conventional
traveling wave accelerator.
Economy in Size
Because of the collective nature of the
medium of propagation.,, much higher
effective accelerating fields can be sus-
tained than in a conventional accelerator,
allowing for economy in the Aize? of the
machine. This is extremely important in a
weapons application.
The cyclotron wave used in the auto-
resonant accelerator is a negative energy
wave' so that in the acceleration process
where energy . is delivered to the ions,'
instead of being degraded, the electric
field energy of the wave actually grows.
If the auto-resonant accelentor
achieves only a few percent efficiency in
conversion of electron beam energy to ion
energy, pulsed currents in the tens of
amperes range or larger are anticipated.
.' The ? name auto-resonant accelerator is
derived frOm the process involved?the
novel feature is that as the cyclotron
eigenmode delivers energy to the .acceler-
ated ions, it automatically extracts energy
from-the relativistic electron 'beam. Power
is thus automatically fed from the relativ-
istic beam to the resonant ions.
To provide the accelerating 'medium,
the electron beam is propagated in a
vacuum over a distance of several meters.
The relativistic electron beam is the accel-
erating medium and is used to accelerate
protons to high energies.
A puff of hydrogen can be allowed into
the front or .njector ?end of the auto-
resonant accelerator. When the electron
beam is turned on, the ionization process
Will strip the hydrogen atoms to bare
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protons at a predetermined depend-
ing on the ambient hydrogen pressure and
-volume and the electron beam energy,
current and cross-section. Juggling these
quantities can adjust the production rate.
There are other .promising concepts for
collective aCcelerators at U.S. laborato-
ries and research centers, but they arc not
.all being actively pursued because of a.
lack of funding and coordination within
the high-energy physics field, according to
. U. S. officils..These.include:
O Traveling potential well accelerator
at Sandia Corp. funded by :the Energy _
,Research and Development Administra-
tion and the ?USA,F Office of 'Scientific
Research. craig Olson at ,Sandia has
developed the concept for controlling the
acceleration of a potential well using an
intense light source or lasers' beamed into
a low-pressure gas for a two-step photO
ionization process. Olson uses laser beams
at oifferent wavelengths for ionization and
cesium vapor for the gas.
? Self-synchronized pinch ,model.aecel-
erator concept by Sidney Putnam at
Physics International in tSan Leandro,
Calif. This concept was proposed by
Putnam i.n 1972, but. no experimental
work has been accomplished in the U.S.
The. Soviets, however, have picked up this
concept and ?accomplished theoretical
work with it. The concept, uses a space
non-charged neutralized_ electron beam,
which contracts in an envelope around
ions as it moves through the accelerator.
This is based on local magnetic pinch
effects. .
13 Collective bunching 'Model acceler-
ator being developed under the Naval
Research Laboratory along with a trav-
eling wave accelerator using a slow space
charge wave. Cornell ,University is doing
the ? simulation work for the Navy.
? a Toroidal storage,ring,accelerator con-
cept by Norman Rostoker at the Univer-
sity of California at Irvine. This concept
provides for a small torus about four
Meters in diameter. A cloud of electrons is
stably confined in . the machine to trap
ions inside a ring to focus them.
a 'Electron ring accelerator at the
University of Maryland under National
Science Foundation sponsorship. This is a
variation. on the USSR smoke ring accel-
erator theme proposed years ago.
"Many possibilities are open for the.
U.S. but remain unexplored," a senior
U. S, official. said. "Whether this results
from. lack of interest, lack of funds for
research, lack of national focus for efforts
this-field, or a belief that the possibility
that ,,,uch' weapons may adversely effeet
detente is unclear. It does seem that the
Soviets have taken a very different course
which may eventually prove most U.S.
planners and analysts to be wrong. If this
proof comes early enough, it may then be
too late for our 'research and development
establishment to catch up on what ma'
finally be agreed to be a very long Soviet
lead in this field of strategic defense."
Aviation Week & Space 1 echnology. May 2. 1977
By Katherine Johnsen
Washington?House of Representatives last week supported President Carter's strategic
nuclear ? weapons program in passing a 835.7-billion authorization for Fiscal 1978
military research. and development and procurement to buttress the Administration's
posture on a new strategic arms liMitation talks (SALT) agreement with. the USSR
(Aw&sT Apr. 18, p. 16).
After two days of debate, the measure Rep. Ronald V. Dellums (D.-Calif.)
was approved by a vote of 347 to 43, offered an amendment 10 eliminate .$134
without any change in the aerospace million for the USAF MX advanced
program recommendations of the House ballistic missile 'system and cancel the
'Armed Services. Committee (AwsisT Apr. program. But only II House 'members
.11, p. 21). The authorization increases the supported the amendment. The other 89
Administration's request for procurement members presentvoted against it.
programs- by a net $793 -.million. This is The, mobile MX will only decrease U. S.
offset by a net reduction of $777 million in security, Rep. Dellums said. "The greater
research and development programs. accuracy of the missiles will pose a
constant threat to the Soviet ICBMs, thus
increasing the chances of a preemptive
The pros and cons of the controversial first strike."
USAF/Rockwell International B- I pro- Estimating the total MX program cost
gram were argued on the House floor; But .at $40-50 billion, Rep. Dellums said:
neither the advocates of accelerating the "That is a lot of money for a Weapon that
program, nor the advocates of canceling it,, has been called 'an arms controller's
.challenged the President's decision to nightmare: President Carter has aireadv
procure five of the strategic bombers in expre'ssed his desire to ban it altogether.
Fiscal.:1978. The Ford Administration had But owing to the verification problems it
proposed a buy of eight. will cause, it may be too !ate to ban it after
we have developed it."
Challenging Rep. Dellums, Rep. lack F.
-Kemp (R.-N. Y.) told the House:
,"The promise upon which the [Dellums]
argument is based is that the C. S. is
provocative and that the Soviets have not
developed mobile land-based
That is wrong. They do have right now a
3,000- to 4.000-naut.-mi range mobile
SS-20. If they combined the SS-20 with
the SS-16, it gives them a mobile intercon-
tinental ballistic missile. It would have
hard-target capabilities. It is the SS-20
that is destabilizing, nor our MX research
and development program.
SALT Flexibility
"We should be giving the 'President Ow
flexibility to go into SALT 2 negotiations
with the support of this Congress by not
tying his hands in'this important wedpons
program, stopping it unilaterally," Rep.
Kemp said.
The Carter Administration redued the
$294?million proposed b \ the Ford' Admin-.
istration by $160 million to the 8134
in
Meanwhile. the Carter Administration
has delayed implementation of its decision
proposing outright cancellation of Min-
uteman 3 produ.etion, annotineed b \
Secretary of Defense Harold Brown Feu.
22. This will require the submission to
Congress of a request to rescind Fiscal
1977 production funding. This request has
not yet been submitted.
The House authorized 8325 million for
B-1 Debated
Senate Unit Cuts F-14A
Washington?Senate Armed Services
CoMmittee last week reduced the ?
Navy/Grumman F-14A procurement pro-
gram from 44 aircraft to 36 during action
on the $35:7-b;.,ion Fiscal 1978 authori-
zation for weapons systems.
Both the Ford and Carter Administra-
lions* recommended $941 million for the
buy of 44. The Senate committee's action
would reduce the Fiscal 1978 funding b,y
$200 million.
The committee alSo adopted language
that would:
O Limit the Fiscal 1979 buy of F-14s to
36, instead of the 60 aircraft programed
by the Navy.
? Direct that the two-year saving, esti-
masted at a total $550 million, be applied
toward any shortfall in the McDonnell
Douglas F-18 program (Awss-r Mar. 28, p.
14).
The Navy solOtion to funding problems
was to permit a year's slippage in the
F-18 program and cancel the Lockheed
P-3C program in Fiscal 1979.
Congressmen claim the Navy wants to
cancel the F-18 program.
Last week the House approved the
funding proposed by the Carter Adminis-
tration, for, both the F-14 and F-18
programs.. The Senate committee's tar-
get is to complete action on the authori-
zation. May 6.
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