From: utzoo!henry Newsgroups: net.space Title: computers aboard Russian shuttle Article-I.D.: utzoo.2165 Posted: Sat Jun 12 23:35:24 1982 Received: Sat Jun 12 23:35:24 1982 Remember that the computers that would have gone aboard the DynaSoar would have been designed in the early sixties. While there is no doubt that the Russians are behind in computer technology, twenty years gives a lot of leeway. Furthermore, consider this. Assume a fleet of a dozen shuttles (none of this mucking about with four or five!). Assume five computers per orbiter. Assume 100% spares allowance for the lifetime of the birds, plus another 50% for simulators, testing, and software development. That's a total of 150 computers. I would give long odds that the Russians could get (say) 150 68000's simply by buying them in the West, using a few dummy companies to cover the ultimate destination. Ditto for the support chips. Things like export controls are designed to stop bulk buying for weapon systems and the like; there is no way to stop small-quantity smuggling of parts that are commercially available across the counter.