CIA: SOVIETS ARE DEVELOPING THEIR OWN 'STAR WARS' SYSTEM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330083-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 83
• Publication Date: May 10, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330083-3 STAT
WASHIN370N TIMES
10 May 1985
CIA: Soviets are developing
their own `star wars' system
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A new CIA report on Soviet defen-
tive weapons, technology reveals.
that many. Soviet scientists critical
pf L7 S. spa!ce'weapgi research have
been loading the S'ovief 'Union's
directed-energy weapons-program.
'xe_Q*nassessment of Soviet
efforts that are counterparts to the
Reagan administration's Strategic
DefenseInitiative-- -or "star wars"
found Soviet programs on : a par
with. and well in advance of U.S.
research. It indicates the Soviet
Union is on the verge of launching a
major directed-energy weapons
development program.
Directed energy refers to a vari-
ety of beam weapons - laser, radio
frequency or particle beam arms.
The -March 1985 paper titled
"Soviet.Directed Energy Weapons -
Perspectives on Strategic Defense"
provides details on top Soviet scien-
tists in the -program. A copy of the
paper was obtained by The Washing-
ton Times.
'The CIA reports that many of
these Soviet scientists have been
outspoken opponents of the SDI pro-
gram while they have been involved
for decades in advanced research
toward Soviet ballistic-missile
defense.
One Soviet physicist, Yevgeniv-
Velikhov, who has been identified in
the Western press as the vice pres-
ident of the Soviet Academy of Sci-
ences, is described in the report as a
"central figure" in Soviet lase'- and
particle-beam weapons research.
In a Washington Post upinior, arti-
cle last June 24, Mr. Velikhov -.-rote
that strategic defense is "a dream
that can't come true." He charged
that the United States is spending
money for research on directed-
energy weapons that "won't work"
and urged that development of
space-based weapons "must be
stopped immediately."
The CIA paper notes that Mr.
Velikhov is a leading science policy-
maker and runs the Kirchatov
Atomic Energy Institute. For several
years, he also directed the Tl-oitsk
Institute of Atomic Energy which
developed "lasers for strategic and
tactical applications"
"The Soviet lobbying and
criticism of SDI is the cheapest and
least risky approach to undermining
congressional and public support for
SDI," the CIA paper states. It adds
that the Soviets would prefer to
undertake their strategic defense
program without real competition
from the United States.
A month after President Reagan
announced the SDI program in 1983,
the New York Times published a let-
ter from a large group of Soviet sci-
entists denouncing the space
defense program, the CIA stated. It
found that more than 200 of the
Soviet signatories, including Mr.
Velikhov and Soviet Nobel laureates
Nikolay Basov and Aleksandr Pro-
khorov, helped develop conventional
and exotic ballistic defense systems.
The CIA said it believes Mr. Basov
and Mr. Prokhorov are scientific
advisers to Soviet laser weapons
programs.
Other Soviet scientists who
signed the anti-SDI advertisement
in the New York Times were iden-
tified only by last name in the CIA
report but were linked by specialty
to development of Soviet weapons
systems including ICBMs, SLBMs,
military aircraft, nuclear subma-
rines and Soviet military nuclear
energy programs.
One signatory, "Academician
Avduyevskiy," is the head of "a num-
ber of projects for the military use
of space, including a space-based
laser weapon," the report states.
Soviet scientists opposed to SDI and
identified only as Grushin, Semeni-
khin and Bunkin are also described
as leaders in development of Soviet
strategic defense.
The CIA report said a group of
Soviet scientists published a report
last year that was "written and dis-
seminated to serve as a propaganda
tool against SDI" The report, widely
distributed in the West, was not cir-
culated in the Soviet Union.
All Soviet research on directed-
energy weapons is under the
direction of what has been called the
PVO Strany (Air and Space Defense
of the State) - a separate branch of
the Soviet military, which handles
strategic and tactical defense,
according to a knowledgeable intel-
ligence source.
"These are not just research pro-
grams, but production programs
run by an operational military force
that is not part of the Army and not
part of the Air Force," the source -
said.
The PVO Strany, the source said,
runs the Soviet air defense network,
the space defense program and the
Anti-Ballistic Missile program.
The Soviet Union operates the
world's only ABM system, the
Galosh missile system ringing Mos-
cow. Galosh missiles are capable of
hitting targets as high as 100,000
feet.
The Soviets also operate the only
anti-satellite weapon, an orbital
interceptor capable of striking satel-
lites in space.
The energy-directed research
and development facility at Sary-
shagan, in the south-central Soviet--
Union on Lake Balkash, contains a-
prototype laser weapon the intelli-
gence community believes "could be
used to interfere with U.S. satellites."
"In the late 1980s, the Soviets
could have prototypes of ground-
and space-based laser weapons for
use against satellites and ballistic
missiles;" CIA concluded.
The CIA believes the Soviets have
concentrated their development
efforts on gas and chemical laser
weapons, but have made "impres-
sive" gains with exotic particle
beam development.
The CIA expects the Soviets to
test a beam weapon capable of dis-
rupting satellite electronics some-
time in the 1990s.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/10: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302330083-3