European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 15, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A decade in space by Howard Benedict a staff writer returning to its Moon base from patrol a . Air Force space ship suddenly is attacked by a Craft Froman Earth nation. Skilfully mane vering at More than5,000 Miles an hour the american spacemen zip in behind the attacker an open fire with a weapon that converts nuclear Energy into a powerful  death Ray vaporizes the enemy ship. The United states is not ready tonight such a Buck Rogers style War in space. But quietly this nation is developing a military space capability to counter a Strong soviet  technological advances by both nations and the growing nuclear threat of red China have spurred the United states to accelerate its military space Effort in both manned and unmanned programs. After years of indecision the air Force has awarded the first sizable con tracts totalling $855 million for the manned orbiting Laboratory. The goal is to determine what military duties Man can perform effectively in space. The first flight of military astronauts is set for 1970, nearly three years be Hind the original  defense department after years of pressure from critics is proceeding with a limited anti ballistic missile pro Gram. Much Effort is concentrated on developing fantastic weapons and other military  them Are reconnaissance Satel Lites that will spot a Soldier hiding i underbrush or a missile buried under ground satellites to locate submerged submarines communications satellites that will enable infantrymen in the Fieldton Confer on tactics and far ranging plans to Exchange messages via  envisioned Are rockets to Knock Down enemy satellites laser and Radia Tion beams to pulverize space or ground targets r9cket-born nuclear bombs to destroy missile warheads rockets with great Power and versatility and Manne spaceships that will take off and land like conventional air planes. Sources cite five major reasons for the stepped up military space research knowledge that the soviet Union is vigorously pushing for a military space capability. Titan 2 and minuteman missiles i underground silos Are threatened by a new warhead guidance system 10 times More accurate than any previous sys tem. It would enable an intercontinental Range missile to hurl its nuclear pay Load to within 600 feet of a  missiles deployed at sea Are threatened by new satellite reconnaissance devices that May soon be Able to locate submarines hundreds of feet be Neath the surface. . Missiles designed to penetrate soviet defences Are threatened by a potential soviet capability to neutralize them by exploding nuclear bombs in their paths. The world strategic equation has been changed sharply by red chinese achievements in nuclear explosives Andy steadily decreasing costs which will permit other nations to deploy missile forces. Many critics of the defense department and Johnson administration contend the United states is not moving fast enough to take advantage of the technological momentum built up Dur ing the ballistic missile and space pro Grams. They say the . No longer can re Lyon Secretary of defense Robert s. Mcnamara s theory that War can be avoided by Mutual  the theory is that an enemy will not attack i enough . Offensive forces can sur Vive to launch a counterattack sufficient to destroy the enemy. One of these critics is retired air Force Gen. Bernard a. Schriever who directed development of America s bal Listic missile programs and played a key role in the approval of the manned Page 14 manned orbiting Laboratory Here drawn with gemini capsule in place is key to military space role. Orbiting Laboratory program. Schriever says the administration snot pushing  he says $400 million to $700 million More should have been spent annually on advanced development in the last four or five  opposes the separation of space activities into military and peaceful spheres contending it simply serves to emphasize by comparison the straightforwardness of the soviet pro  the air Force association has Sai America was severely handicapped by the limited nuclear test ban treaty Andy the Lack of Basic knowledge about using nuclear bombs As a shield against ballistic missiles. The statement noted that the soviet Union had conducted several High Altitude nuclear tests before signing the treaty and there is Little question the soviet Union is far ahead of the unite states in this critical  stating the administration position John s. Foster jr., director of defens research and engineering said the United states had not reached a technological  in fiscal year 1968, we Are continuing our ballistic missile defense develop ment efforts at the High Levels of recent years Foster said. We Are request ing $440 million for research and development work on the Nike a system. And there is another related program project defender for which we have requested another $119 million. Our capabilities in this area have been changed dramatically in the last 10 years. How can we be stagnating technologically in ballistic missile de sense while we devote More than Halfa billion dollars to it in one year president Johnson said he often had been criticized for spending too much Money on space  these critics he said if we got nothing else from the space program than the photographic satellite it is Worth 10 times Over the Money the stars and stripes we be spent. Without the satellites i be operating by guess and by god. But i know exactly How Many missiles the enemy has  to Date the United states has spent nearly $40 billion on military and civilian space programs. Even John son s reckoning that the photographic satellites alone have been Worth nearly$400 billion might be Low. Because thanks to knowing How Many missiles potential enemy has and where they Are defense department officials scythe United states will not be caught in another scare like the so called missile Gap of the 1950s. Then there was a grave fear that the soviet Union had a tremendous Lead in Long Range missiles and the unite states poured billions into a program to catch up. Later it was Learned that there had been no Gap. The development of reconnaissance and surveillance satellites has been one of the most significant achievements of the space age. Details about them Are sunday october 15, 1967