European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 4, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The Amis race i i by Richard Lyons new Vork times Hole the attention or the world was glued on nights to the Moon and us Orbital handshake Between soviet and american a less publicized but important Competition was accelerating an Mrna race in one remit of this Competition was us soviet spy satellite that accidentally tired he earths atmosphere Over to was one of several classes of military i Page vehicles that have and Are being constructed russian space the russians have also developed Hunter killer have experimented with Orbital bombardment vehicles and Are believed to be conducting tests of laser weapons in in recent years the defense department has mounted a crash program to up Wuh and overtake the soviet Lead in some lieu of military apace research and de investing billions of dollars in projects to build even More sophisticated a truders and laser Ibe importance of the american Effort Baa been underscored during the past year through statements of concern about the soviet exploitation of space for military purposes by president Carter and defense Secretary Harold a Boob Ibe development is hat been going on for Carter or is for Carter became Ibe first president to publicly acknowledge their sex glance when be Tau a news conference in april hut and soviet had agreed it Catt ant to de tiny one another satellite observation Brown also went out of his tray last octo Ber to Volunteer the information thai the soviet Union had the operational capability to destroy same american i find that somewhat he Hope that we can keep space from becoming an area of Active other officials have said privately Ual the defense Secretary is understating Ibe Case and that the american Security i Dora Are Eide rely worried about the threats that the soviet unions new Hunter american officials tear that the which the defense department dubs can Knock out Tat pentagons ability to conic sat Eata with and give Ernersto missile Slohn and to wed farces around the ibis is of crucial strategic importance in the event that a Nudera War erupts be Case the disruption of defense communal Tow Kotiw prevent the from a retaliatory strike if that nation wre George Keegan who re Tod last year As chief of air Force irtely characterized the threats posed by Tameru thereas Keegan said american Strat exists were two Yean ago when to soviets sophisticated venue of was Able to Home la and a after making Only one or less Una two was the Genius of american y hint pit Lautif our strategic Reco canals our Early missile warning added that the Loe Point at which it can neither Juno employ strategic convention on any scale anywhere in by through space Communia our satellites Are Wrotan Dyul by tie Vork tins to Dis views with senior Security off dals in the White Rouse and the Penta gon were rebuffed its such a Touchy we just dont want to talk about said Victor a staff member of the National Security Council who deals with military sat Jwj situation i that while the soviets made the first jump into space it was the americans who were first to launch military space waft in these were the Proto types of what was to become the spectacularly successful sky satellite program which was to enable american intelligence mod Tor soviet my Hilary activity through High Resolution photographs and elec tronic eavesdropping of can Munica the even pioneered Vilh Anil sate Lite weapons through project an acronym for satellite but this was scrapped in the Early by the russians have Over the past 10 years launched at least 33 satellites As either killers or targets for their anti satellite the latest of which took face with the flights of 7 and Cosmos flight made Public by the North american air defense command indicate the following sequence of events on 13 the Cosmos 967 satellite was launched from the soviet rocket base at 650 Miles North of it was put into an almost circular orbit of about 810 Miles Altitude inclined 66 degrees to the on 21 the soviets launched Cosmos 970 from a second base at thu rata near the aral sea in this vehicle went into an initial orbit of 514 by Miles inclined 65 degrees to the then for the eighth time in two the soviet ground controllers demonstrated that they could radically change the path of this killer before one revolution had been completed the orbit of Cosmos 970 was changed on ground command to 712 by 588 Miles and its inclination was altered slightly to g6 that of Cosmos on this new Orbital pass Cosmos 970 flew close enough to Cosmos 967 to have inspected ii with sen on its fourth orbit after Ibe Reod i when Ibe two vehicles had drifted far enough apart la prevent damage to Connos the Olber sat Elitle blew up with such Force that it broke into in yet Ibe ground controllers bad Dwa had they cd often to do they could have blown 19 lbs Nasht since the first Orbital lest of the Hunter killer the flights 10 years ago of Cosmos h9 and 3s2 to which the latter two Craft were is successful operations of this Type have taken including eight of their new Maneu Merable Cosmos burned up Over Canada in was a naval reconnaissance satellite that carried a powerful radar Able to scan the oceans for vessels of the and Allied and radioed Luck their number and position to soviet ground it was one of a class of space Craft Fiat has been dubbed Soss by Ibe the initials standing for soviet Ocean surveillance system this class of satellite testifies to the extreme sophistication of soviet military space soviet strategists wanted a Means of keeping track of the movements of american surface ships since Light bombers that can carry nuclear weapons Are based on attack when the weather is bad and the ships keep radio silence they Are very difficult to even through the use of convention Al spy soviet Lechnou Ogitis met the Lenge by Perle Etling a satellite borne radar system which Many Western space experts believed to be impassible because enormous amount of Power Are needed to beam radar Rig the soviets met the int by developing a nuclear reactor fuelled by uranium of that was Small enough to be put of a the soviets even solved the thorny prob Lem of Nat to do with us extremely radio Active reactor once the operational life of the satellite had ended by designing the Craft in sections so that the reactor could be detached and boosted to an orbit of about 8m Miles through the use of an on Board As was done on 16 previous at this Altitude the reactor would Lake 600 years to reenter the earths Almo unless there was an Accident such As the one that befell Cosmos like Dib the has no equivalent underscoring the de Cline of american military space Active Over the past five years Ibe soviet Union has launched 325 satellites that Aren resigned to be for military Pur the american total during this period is Bat the has mounted re search and development Effort aimed at Matching and even overtaking Ibe soviet Lead in Hunter kill and Ocean scanning military space spending Rose from f i billion in in to billion this year and the budget for Ibe nut fiscal year Coo Talos Large increases in for sue research and As an the air Force in septem Ber awarded a contract to the Vount in Dallas to develop an instrumented target spacecraft for ant satellite american officials fear that the satellite Hunter killers can Knock out the pentagons ability to communicate with and give orders to forces around the perhaps As Early As asked to provide details of the Julian a senior vice president of the Ltd Doughls Parent said we dont redly want to talk about its highly classified stuff right other companies involved in Antis Tel Lite development include the Mitre Rand in los an Giles the Grumman aerospace Avo systems of and the aerospace Al these and other companies helped the to virtually dominate military space activities in the they helped branches of the defense department to develop military and naval communications satellites that allow the Pentagon to con tact ships at sea and ground navigation originally called transits but now referred to As part of for Navy navigation satellite have been to orbit since the Pentagon launched two new Satel Lites of the Noss class in the acronym meaning naval observation Sal it late that eavesdrop on soviet naval five others of Dif Ferent types had been launched also under development is a network of 2s satellites known As the global position ing which incorporates the Nav Star due to be operational by the these navigation spacecraft Wilt provide missiles and aircraft with the Abil ily to locale a such As a soviet mis Sile within an accuracy of 10 feel these a Nib american and indicate that the Poss bully thai space May be a Battleground some Day it to Bead off hat the Carter administration Early last year suggested to the russians that discussions be held on Means that might limit the exploitation of space for military the talks have not been in part because of the reluctance of some strategic planners in the Pentagon to go to the bargaining table without As an an operational Anlisa Leurle As a footnote to the history of the arms race in Keegan said that Intelli gence was aware As Early As 19s9 thai Ibe soviet Union was determined to invest heavily in military space operations on an Lon term the sources of the Kaegan was Oreg the soviet War hero who became a vol steer say for the West in until his arrest and execution in Penk Ovelty was perhaps the most important source of secret information that the Western allies Ever had to the Penkov tary passed us top secret re ports that reflected massive soviet inter est in the near term use of space for the enhancement of soviet military Cap Abili Keegan adding they were largely february the stars and stripes Page 13