WMARTIN@OFFICE-8@sri-unix (08/06/82)
From: WMartin at Office-8 (Will Martin)
>From the July 19, '82 issue of Electronic Engineering Times, p. 37:
PENTAGON CREATES USAF SPACE COMMAND (extracts)
The Department of Defense has created the US Air Force Space
Command in response to the increasing use of space for military
purposes. The new command, to be operational Septemeber 1, will
be part of the Air Force.
The Space Command was established ... to counter advances in
Soviet space systems and strategic weapons via a single
operational command that can carry out US military space policy.
The Pentagon's move follows a long debate with Congress over
whether to rename the US Air Force the US Aerospace Force.
Congress wanted to change the name to sharpen DoD's focus for
space activities, which it felt were lagging behind the Soviet
military effort in space. ...
Creation of the Space Command is viewed as the first step toward
establishing a unified command involving all other branches of
the military. This, according to Pentagon sources, is an issue
presently being hotly contested among the various branches of the
service.
The headquarters for the new part of the Air Force will be
located with the Aerospace Defense Command at Colorado Springs,
CO. Commander of the Space Command will be Lt. Gen. James V.
Hartinger, presently commander-in-chief of NORAD as well as head
of the Aerospace Defense Command. ...
"The purpose of the new command is to provide a focus initially
for operational planning, coordination and consolidation of
activities relating to space-mission areas." ...
The operational and development portions of the Defense Dept.
have often been too far apart, with the users of the systems not
communicating fully with the developers.
More emphasis will be given ... to incorporating operational
concepts into space-system developments -- systems previously
thought to contain one-of-a-kind characteristics.
Standardization is also a goal of the Space Command. The desire
to standardize space military systems is a strong one within DoD,
and one which helped to get the Space Command approved.
[Latter portion extracted from comments by retiring USAF chief of
staff General Lew Allen, Jr.]CARTER@RU-GREEN@sri-unix (08/08/82)
From: Robert A. Carter <CARTER at RUTGERS>
Date: Friday, 6 August 1982 10:58-EDT
From: WMartin at Office-8 (Will Martin)
The Department of Defense has created the US Air Force Space
Command in response to the increasing use of space for military
purposes. The new command, to be operational Septemeber 1, will
be part of the Air Force.
The Pentagon's move follows a long debate with Congress over
whether to rename the US Air Force the US Aerospace Force.
Congress wanted to change the name to sharpen DoD's focus for
space activities, which it felt were lagging behind the Soviet
military effort in space. ...
"[L]ong debate with Congress"? Does anyone have any citations to
support that? I doubt the suggestion was ever really taken very
seriously.
_BobCARTER@RU-GREEN@sri-unix (08/08/82)
From: Robert A. Carter <CARTER at RUTGERS> test
WMARTIN@OFFICE-8@sri-unix (08/18/82)
From: WMartin at Office-8 (Will Martin)
>From Electronic Engineering Times, Aug. 16, 1982, page 32, the
"DC Circuit" column by Howard Roth:
THE SOVIET SPACE PROGRAM: AN EXPENSIVE PROPOSITION
According to Pentagon sources, the Soviet Union is outspending
the US space program by up to $4 billion per year .
Also, say the sources, the Russians plan to quadruple their
$18-billion-a-year space program by the turn of the century.
Russia spent about $6 billion in 1981 for spacecraft now in
orbit. During last year, the Soviets launched 98 space missions
with a total payload of 126 spacecraft. In 1981, the US launched
18 missions.
These are ominous figures. They point to a concerted,
orchestrated efort by the Soviet Union to develop a continuous
manned presence in the high ground of space. While the precise
amount of money the Soviets are putting into specific projects is
difficult to determine, it is clear, say the sources, that the
Soviets are pouring money into such areas as laser-weapon
satellites (the first of which is expected to be launched
sometime next year), hunter/killer satellites designed to destroy
such birds as communications satellites, and a winged reusable
transport (a less sophisticated version of the American space
shuttle) to ferry personnel and materials to and from orbiting
space stations.
It is still conceded that the US holds the technological edge in
space. ... However, the Soviets have been consistently
averaging about 75 missions a year more than the US. They are
also outspending the US as previously discussed. While quantity
does not mean quality, the technological disparity between the
two countries appears to be closing as a result of the massive
Soviet effort. Unless we move, and soon, the gap will one day be
non-existent.
SPACE AS A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
Appreciation of the Soviet space program has been slow, but it is
building. Until recently, limited attention had been given to
the Soviet space program by US intelligence groups. But the
Defense Department is now devoting more attention to the Soviet
effort, including attempting to analyze the relationship between
the various parts of its space program, and the space program as
a whole with the military.
The Defense Dept. is also attempting to make changes to counter
the expansion in Soviet space activities.
Said Edward C. Aldridge, Air Force undersecretary, to the
American Astronautical Society, "In the past, our space systems
were designed to be operated in a non-hostile, benign
environment. Little attention was paid to wartime requirements
of survivability or to the increasing dependence of military
commanders on space support. I believe this has now changed. We
have recognized that our systems must be able to operate in a
hostile wartime situation. This recognition will have profound
implications for the way we do business in space."
***End extract from referenced column ***
Another item SPACE readers might find of interest is that the PBS
program "Firing Line", with Bill Buckley, last week was on the
subject of "The High Frontier", and had General Graham and a Dr.
Graham as the guests, discussing the space-based ICBM defense
concept going by that name.
Regards, Will Martin