RAY DEFENSE FOR MISSILES IS DISPUTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000300090089-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 9, 2006
• Sequence Number: 89
• Publication Date: January 30, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

Aar T-WASHINGTON VVb1
AND TIDES HERALD
Approved For Relead Oo O1Sgq : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300090089-9
11tay
lies
Js'Disputed
By George C. Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Pentagon weapons special-
lsts last night disputed a
claim in the current issue of
U. S. -'News & World Report'
that Russia has made' a break-
through in missile defense
3 C-j q -yl G-7 with X ray radiation.
in its issue
The, magazine
,
dated Feb. 6, said "what the
':Russians have done is perfect
nn anti-missile weapon that
;.produces so called X-ray of
feet in intense proportions;
. The shielding on U.S. war-.
heads, it is reported, will fail
to halt most of the X-rays."
Ing on' U.S. anti'missile sys-
tems said there is no big mys
tery about X-ray effects, add-;
both U.S. and Russian missile
experts are counting on to;
kill ICBMs.
The basic technique of mis-
sile defense is to explode .8
nuclear device as close as pos.-
warhead. It Is the radiation'
from the nuclear blast of the
anti-missile which incapaci-
tates the warhead, One type
of radiation given off in such: .
,,. ,neutrons. The radiati.on, ia,;ef-"
fective- if it is emitted close
enough to the warhead.
U.S. News &? World Report
said that in space "X-rays
travel for thousands of miles.
They carry enormous pulses
of energy-enough to paralyze'-,
or disintegrate attacking U.S.,
missiles before they re-enter,
the atmosphere and while they,
are hundreds of miles from:
their targets."
The magazine said U.S.
scientists "stumbled onto the
X-ray e f f e c t inadvertently.
long after the' Soviets had'
witnessed its effects in.'actual
tests in 1963." '
Dr. Ralph Lapp, a phys'icistl
who has worked on U.S. nu-1
clear weapons, said X-ray,
effects were not a recent dis.
covery.
The X-ray effect "strikes me
as decidedly stale news to any
scientist" who has worked on
nuclear weapons, Lapp said.
Russian progress in anti-
missile systems continues to
be a focus of interest in Con-
gress, The closed hearings on
the fiscal 1968 military budget
will be dominated by ques.
tions on anti-missile systems.
Russia is deploying what.
Defense Secretary Robert S,
McNamara said, is a missile
defense limited to Moscow.
One estimate is that Russia)
has spent from $4 billion to
$S- billion..on anti-ballistic-mis-
silies (ABM).
McNam,iit?a s a i d in his
budget testimony that the U.S,
has spent $4 billion on missile
defense research since 1955.
The fiscal 1968 budget calls
for spending $421 million. for
further . U.S. anti-missile re-
search with an additional $377
million held in reserve in case
the U.S.., decides it must go
into production on- the missilei
defense,, .. i
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