VLSI@DEC-MARLBORO@sri-unix.UUCP (06/12/84)
From: John Redford <VLSI at DEC-MARLBORO>
Dale.Amon is not impressed by anti-ASAT advocates:
"As I was reading a recent Scientific American article noting the benefits of
halting ASAT testing before the high tech weapons have been tested, thus
insuring that no one can feel certain about their abilities, I couldn't help
but laugh at the lack of imagination the poor earthworm showed."
He suggests that space marines could just go out and shoot satellites if we
wanted to destroy them. The article was co-written by Richard Garwin, an IBM
Fellow at the Watson Research Center. He has been a key part of the debate
over the ABM, the cruise missile, and the Trident deployments. He is not
someone I would describe as an unimaginative earthworm.
Destroying a satellite is an act of war. If you are to derive any benefit
from it at all you have to destroy most of them at once. The Russians are
not going to sit on their hands while you fly from one satellite to another
plugging them with your revolver. They will move their satellites, destroy
your manned orbital base, or maybe just get down to the business of World
War III. Destroying several hundred satellites within the course of a few
minutes is not something marines are likely to be able to do. They won't
have the time to get more than one apiece, and they won't have the manpower
to get them all at once.
This whole ASAT thing seems crazed to me. We rely on satellites for a lot
of things, and yet by threatening the Russians we make certain that our own
will be threatened. It's disastrous, of course, from an arms control point
of view, but it's bad even from a straight military point of view as well.
Someone at Space Command is out of control.
John Redford
DEC-Hudson
--------stevel@haddock.UUCP (06/16/84)
#R:sri-arpa:-83700:haddock:16000013:000:633
haddock!stevel Jun 15 09:40:00 1984
I agree that space marines are a wast for ASAT but take objection
to the statement that we are spurring the Russians on in ASAT
technology. The Russians have taken the initial initiative and
continue to develop ASAT wepons. I think an ASAT race is terrible
but if there is no treaty, assuming the Russians honour it, we
have to go ahead. Not nice but necesary. I say stop for a year
and see if they talk. If they don't we will have lost two
years, it takes a while to get going again, and will have to give it
alot of attention, and money, to catch up again.
Steve Ludlum, decvax!yale-co!ima!stevel, {amd70|ihnp4!cbosgd}!ima!stevelcozadde@trsvax.UUCP (06/21/84)
#R:sri-arpa:-83700:trsvax:56000018:000:1949 trsvax!cozadde Jun 21 12:49:00 1984 Sillyness, sillyness. The primary purpose of the U.S. ASAT is to continue to play the tit for tat game. Since the Soviet Communist Party has developed, tested and deployed their own ASAT system two years ago, they have (to the best of my knowledge) damage or destroyed 3-4 of our satellites. They used their own ASAT on their own satellites but tested their proto-type particle beam weapon on a few of our satel- lites. So for keeping ASATs out of space, you are two years too late. The tit-for-tat game is played like this: The Soviet Communist Party becomes upset for some reason with our spy satellite that is used to keep an 'eye' on their ICBM missile fields (to prevent a surprise attack and to provide confirmation of attack/no attack status in case of an 'accident' or 'incident'). So they knock it down with their ASAT. Does this cause WWIII? No. The U.S. just sends another sate- lite up to take its place. But this can become expensive and well as dangerous because it leaves us in the position of 'firing on warning' instead of 'firing on actual attack' while the satellite is being re- placed. Without an ASAT capability, the Soviet Communist Party could keep this up until we either stop sending up new satellites, go broke sending replacements, or have a nervous breakdown trying to guess which one is going to be the start of WWIII. With an ASAT capability, the U.S. would simply replace the downed satellite and then knock down a Soviet satellite they use to track and target our aircraft carriers or SSBNs. And since the U.S. system is cheaper and more flexible, we could keep this game up longer than the Soviets. So with ASATs, the balance of power continues. Without a U.S. ASAT capability, the balance of power (terror) shifts towards the Soviet Communist Party. lt. of marines ...microsoft!trsvax!cozadde ...laidbak!trsvax!cozadde ...ctvax!trsvax!cozadde
sobek@iwpba.UUCP (sobek) (06/24/84)
lt. of marines at trsvax!cozadde states: >Since the Soviet Communist >Party has developed, tested and deployed their own ASAT system two >years ago, they have (to the best of my knowledge) damage or destroyed >3-4 of our satellites. They used their own ASAT on their own satellites >but tested their proto-type particle beam weapon on a few of our satel- >lites. So for keeping ASATs out of space, you are two years too late. Nothing else that I have read or heard suggests that the USSR has done more than test an ASAT system, at the same time that the US was doing development work on ours. That the Soviets have deployed a functioning ASAT system and used their weapons on our satellites is alarming, to say the least, if true. Please supply references for your statements. Steve Sobek ihnp4!iwpba!sobek
barry@ames-lm.UUCP (Kenn Barry) (06/25/84)
[ZZZZAPPP!!] > Nothing else that I have read or heard suggests that the USSR has done > more than test an ASAT system, at the same time that the US was doing > development work on ours. That the Soviets have deployed a functioning > ASAT system and used their weapons on our satellites is alarming, to say > the least, if true. I recall there was an article 2-3 years ago in Aviation Week & Space Technology about the Russians testing a beam-type ASAT on our satellites. The author's name was something like Keyhoe. As I remember it, a major controversy ensued in AW&ST, with numerous experts both supporting and disputing the story. Don't know if anything was settled. Can anyone supply details? Kenn Barry NASA-Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Electric Avenue: {dual,hao,menlo70,hplabs}!ames-lm!barry