U.S. AIDES REPORT SOVIET LOST AIRBORNE LASER LAB IN A FIRE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89G00720R000600730014-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: November 4, 1986
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/11/18: CIA-RDP89GO072OR000600730014-0
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/11/18: CIA-RDP89GO072OR000600730014-0
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Declassified in
Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/11/18: CIA-RDP89GO072OR000600730014-0
Force sltccesstully testea Ire anu Z1aL
ellite weapon yesterday even though
the test remained within restrictions
imposed by Congress, the service
announced.
The anti-satellite, or ASAT, test
used the energy, source of a distant
star as the target, the Air Force said.
The test was conducted by a
high-flying F-15 jet from Edwards
Air Force Base, Calif.
It was the fourth test of the weap-
on, which sits at the end of a small,
two-stage rocket carried aloft by the
fighter. After the plane fires the
weapon, the ASAT is supposed to
slam into its target at high speed.
Last year, congressional arms
control advocates succeeded in win-
ning enactment of a ban on tests of
the ASAT weapon against a target in
space. That ban, which extends
through the fiscal year ending Sept.
30, came after the U.S. ASAT suc-
panion measure p is-ed earlier by
the Republican-run S.-nate, and a
House :mate conference committee
will try next month to iron out differ-
ences between the two blls. Pre i-
dent Reagan has threatened to veto
any final version of the bill if it con-
tains the ASAT test ban or four oth-
er amendments added In the House
by arms control advocates.
The Air Force said yesterday's
test provided data on the ability of
the weapon's sensor to track an in-
frared heat source closer to the
Earth's horizon than previous tests.
The test was the fourth in which
the ASAT weapon was actually fired
and comes in the wake of 35 other
demonstrations in which the weap-
on was simply carried aloft by the
F-15.
The three previous tests involved
24 August 1986
U.S. Aides Report Soviet Lost
Airborne Laser Lab in a Fire
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Special I. The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 - Reagan
Administration officials said today that
a fire destroyed a Soviet airborne laser
-laboratory near Moscow in late May or
'early June.
The laboratory was in an Ilyushin 76
transport plane, and the fire occurred
while the plane was on the ground at an
air base, the officials said.
Central Intelligence Agency analysts
are said to have told the Government
that some Soviet officials involved in
-the laser program are believed to have
been injured or killed in the fire.
Reports about the fire have appeared
in Defense Daily, a Washington-based
newsletter, and in International De-
fense Review, a Geneva magazine.
Varying Views on Significance
One official said the accident was a
setback for the airborne laser pro-
gram, but other officials and experts
outside of Government cautioned
against exaggerating the significance.
A 1985 version of the Pentagon report
titled "Soviet Military Power" says
that the Russians have been working on
an airborne laser, but that it is not
Clear how successful this effort will be.
"Assuming a successful develop-
ment effort, limited initial deployment
could begin in the early 1990's," the re-
port says, adding that such a system
could be used for defense against
cruise missiles and to defend Soviet
planes against attack. It also suggests
that a laser system could eventually be
used to attack satellites.
The United States Air Force used to
have an airborne laser laboratory in a
Boeing KC-135. But that program was
canceled several Years ago because of
source" in space, along with three
tests against targets in fiscal 1987.
Those tests would be blocked if the
House br in Is enacted into law.
Mr. l:eagan and the Pentagon ar-
gue that the U.S. weapon. which has
been in development for eight years,
is needed to offset what they say is
an operational Soviet ASAT weapon
and force the Kremlin to bargain se-
riously for a ban on ASAT weapons.
But opponents contend that the
Soviets have not tested their weapon
since 1982 and that it is far more
crude than Its U.S. counterpart and
thus would not make an effective
weapon.
'Both superpowers depend heavily
on satellites for spying, communica-
tions and early warning of nuclear
attack.
Pg. 18
cost and doubts about its military util-
ity.
The Americans used their laboratory
to test the ability of a medium-range
laser against air-to-air missiles.
"It was canceled before the 'Star
Wars' program got under way because
they could not find a military applica-
tion for it," said John E. Pike, an as-
sociate director for space policy at the
Federation of American Scientists.
Mr. Pike noted that the United States
and the Soviet Union were both work-
ing on ground-based lasers that are
more powerful than those in planes.
The United States' ground-based
laser has two million watts of power,
and the airborne laser had the power of
400,000 watts.
Before the program was canceled,
the United States had one airborne
laboratory, and it is presumed that the
Soviet Union also had only one such
laboratory.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/11/18: CIA-RDP89GO072OR000600730014-0