From: utzoo!decvax!cca!WMARTIN@OFFICE-8@sri-unix Newsgroups: net.space Title: Space In The News Article-I.D.: sri-unix.2767 Posted: Wed Aug 18 11:15:02 1982 Received: Fri Aug 20 01:04:26 1982 From: WMartin at Office-8 (Will Martin) >From Electronic Engineering Times, Aug. 16, 1982, page 32, the "DC Circuit" column by Howard Roth: THE SOVIET SPACE PROGRAM: AN EXPENSIVE PROPOSITION According to Pentagon sources, the Soviet Union is outspending the US space program by up to $4 billion per year . Also, say the sources, the Russians plan to quadruple their $18-billion-a-year space program by the turn of the century. Russia spent about $6 billion in 1981 for spacecraft now in orbit. During last year, the Soviets launched 98 space missions with a total payload of 126 spacecraft. In 1981, the US launched 18 missions. These are ominous figures. They point to a concerted, orchestrated efort by the Soviet Union to develop a continuous manned presence in the high ground of space. While the precise amount of money the Soviets are putting into specific projects is difficult to determine, it is clear, say the sources, that the Soviets are pouring money into such areas as laser-weapon satellites (the first of which is expected to be launched sometime next year), hunter/killer satellites designed to destroy such birds as communications satellites, and a winged reusable transport (a less sophisticated version of the American space shuttle) to ferry personnel and materials to and from orbiting space stations. It is still conceded that the US holds the technological edge in space. ... However, the Soviets have been consistently averaging about 75 missions a year more than the US. They are also outspending the US as previously discussed. While quantity does not mean quality, the technological disparity between the two countries appears to be closing as a result of the massive Soviet effort. Unless we move, and soon, the gap will one day be non-existent. SPACE AS A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT Appreciation of the Soviet space program has been slow, but it is building. Until recently, limited attention had been given to the Soviet space program by US intelligence groups. But the Defense Department is now devoting more attention to the Soviet effort, including attempting to analyze the relationship between the various parts of its space program, and the space program as a whole with the military. The Defense Dept. is also attempting to make changes to counter the expansion in Soviet space activities. Said Edward C. Aldridge, Air Force undersecretary, to the American Astronautical Society, "In the past, our space systems were designed to be operated in a non-hostile, benign environment. Little attention was paid to wartime requirements of survivability or to the increasing dependence of military commanders on space support. I believe this has now changed. We have recognized that our systems must be able to operate in a hostile wartime situation. This recognition will have profound implications for the way we do business in space." ***End extract from referenced column *** Another item SPACE readers might find of interest is that the PBS program "Firing Line", with Bill Buckley, last week was on the subject of "The High Frontier", and had General Graham and a Dr. Graham as the guests, discussing the space-based ICBM defense concept going by that name. Regards, Will Martin