SOVIETS ACKNOWLEDGE SPACE WEAPONS RESEARCH IN NEW 'STAR WARS' BOOKLET

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330051-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 51
• Publication Date: August 22, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330051-8 STAT
ARTICLE A? -~~
ON PAGE WASHINGTON TIMES
22 August 1985
Soviets acknowledge space weapons
research in new `Star Wars' booklet
By Bill Gertz
THE NMSHINOTON TIMES
The Soviet Union has acknowledged
for the first time that it is engaged in
military space research but denies its
military efforts are geared toward devel-
oping "space strike weapons:'
The Soviets revealed existence of their
space weapons program in a new booklet
issued last week called "Star Wars: Delu-
sions and Dangers;' a polemic against the
Reagan administration's Strategic
Defense Initiative. A copy of the report
was obtained by The Washington Times.
The 56-page booklet was published in
Moscow by the Military Publishing
House and is being distributed by the
Information Department of the Soviet
Embassy in Washington.
Compared with other Soviet propa-
ganda releases, "Star Wars" appears
more sophisticated and contains color
maps and drawings of U.S. military sys-
tems, including a drawing of a proposed
U.S. mobile intercontinental ballistic
missile called the Midgetman.
It also shows the location of U.S. anti-
satellite warfare bases in the United
States where F-15 aircraft capable of fir-
ing anti-satellite missiles are stationed.
The Reagan administration said Tuesday
it would conduct three tests of an air-
borne anti-satellite interceptor this year.
After criticizing U.S. space defense
research as part of a "strategy directed
to preparing the stage for nuclear war,"
the Soviet booklet states that "certainly
space research is also being done in the
Soviet Union, and in the military field,
too:'
It adds that the Soviets are not devel-
oping any "space strike weapons:' the
Soviet phrase for space- and ground-
based satellite interceptors, particle
beams and lasers capable of attacking
objects in space.
But a draft CIA re ort on Soviet space
weapons researc circulated on Capitol
Hill last March states that "hostile Soviet
reactions" to SDI and "lobbying by high-
level Soviet scientists" should be viewed
in light of the fact that the Soviets are
engaged in extensive space weapons
research.
"The Soviet Union has not admitted to
its own long-standing counterpart
[space] research, and the most vocal
Soviet scientists have themselves been
heavily involved in that weapons
research," the CIA ry~e t on "Soviet
Directed Enegei iWeapons" states.
The CIA re rt states that a Rand
Corp. study on Soviet space weapons
found Soviet research on exotic particle
beam weapons "appears singularly appli-
cable to the task of propagating particle
beams in space."
"The Soviets already have a ground-
based laser capable of damaging some
U.S. satellites," the A rep rt states.
By the 1990s, the CIA estimates that
the Soviets "may dep o-T y operational
space-based laser systems for anti-
satellite purposes," the report states.
The CIA believes the United States is
"on the threshhold of an alternative
Soviet line of attack - to compete with
the U.S. in strategic defense."
In Geneva Tuesday the International
Defense Journal published an article
which asserted that the Soviet Union has
been working on its own "star wars" pro-
gram for two decades despite its opposi-
tion to U.S. plans to develop a space-based
missile defense shield.
"Despite its shrill protests against
President Reagan's Strategic Defense
Initiative [popularly known as 'star
wars'], the Soviet Union has been devel-
oping its own 'star wars' space weapons
since 1964," said the article which was
based on information from Soviet bloc
sources.
Among the space weapons being devel-
oped by the Soviets are new anti-ballistic
missiles known as the SH-04 and SH-08.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330051-8