arms-d@ucbvax.ARPA (03/13/85)
From: Moderator <ARMS-D@MIT-MC.ARPA>
Arms-Discussion Digest Volume 3 : Issue 13
Today's Topics:
SDI Reference Request
More on 'High Frontier' and Gen. Daniel Graham
US, USSR nuclear arsenal strengths
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Date: Thu, 7 Mar 85 11:59 EST
From: sdl@MITRE-BEDFORD.ARPA
To: linus!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!benson@MITRE-BEDFORD.ARPA
Cc: ARMS-D@MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: Re: SDI Reference Request
In-reply-to: Your message of Saturday, 2 Mar 1985 22:24-EST.
There have been several references to SDI in the open literature.
Air Force Magazine has had a number of good introductory articles:
"Charting a Course for SDI" in the September 1984 issue, and "Special
Section: Strategic Defense Initiative" (4 articles) in the February
1985 issue.
Incidentally, there will an (unclassified) industry briefing-type
conference, "A Close In Look At The Strategic Defense Initiative,"
sponsored by the Technical Marketing Society of America, being given in
Washington, D.C. April 8-9, 1985, and in Orlando, Florida, April 15-16,
1985. Registration fee is $525 per registrant. For further
information, contact TMSA Conferences, Torrance, CA, (213)534-3922.
Steven Litvintchouk
Mitre Corporation
Burlington Road
Bedford, MA 01730
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Date: Mon, 11 Mar 85 15:24:12 est
From: Walter Hamscher <hamscher@MIT-HTVAX.ARPA>
To: ARMS-D@MIT-MC.ARPA
Subject: More on 'High Frontier' and Gen. Daniel Graham
From the Boston Globe, p.6, Monday, March 11, 1985:
BACKERS OF 'STAR WARS' LAUNCH FUNDING CONTEST
By Fred Kaplan
Globe Staff
WASHINGTON -- Retired Gen. Daniel O. Graham, charman of High Frontier,
a private organization promoting President Ronal Dreagan's space-based
missile-defense programm, has resorted to an old fund-raising idea for
his cause -- a sweepstakes.
"Here's how everyone can win the grandest prize of all!" Graham begins
in a letter, sent out to thousands of Americans, that offers a "$1000
cash give-away and "137 other valuable prizes" in what he calls the
"Star-Spangled Sweepstakes."
Written in the style of the Publishers' Clearinghouse mailings, the
letter says, "I want to give you two very important reasons for getting
in on this 'Star-Spangled Sweepstakes' right away.
"For one thing, the sooner you enter, the better your chances of
winning!" Furthermore, "everyone enjoys a sweepstakes. So it's an
ideal way to reach great numbers of Americans with the facts about this
plan to free mankind from the menace of nuclear confrontation."
"This plan," the letter explains, is "President Reagan's plan to put a
network of special satellites in space that would make all of us safe
from nuclear missile attack!"
The mailer asks for contributions to High Frontier, which has been
pushing for a space-based defense system even longer than Reagan has,
and which advertises a host of prizes that those who enter the
sweepstakes can win.
They include $5000 in gold coins, a Mercury Lynx, an RCA home
entertainment center and Polaroid cameras.
The mailing says, "You don't have to contribute to High Frontier to
enter this sweepstakes -- but I really hope you will. Even a modest
gift will permit these good people to reach thousands more Americans."
It also says the prizes "will not be purchased with funds allocated for
our activities to ensure a secure, 'missile-proof' America. Instead,
they have been made available through the help and generosity of a
group of special friends."
A High Frontier spokeswoman said these "special friends" were donor who
asked to remain anonymous. She said they contributed the prizes and
paid for the printing, which was handled by a professional organization
that prints many sweepstakes mailings.
Graham has been director of Army Intelligence and the Defense
Intelligence Agency. He recently attracted attention as a leading
champion of Gen. William C. Westmoreland's unsuccessful lawsuit
against CBS over its documentary that alleged falsification of
intelligence estimates during the Vietnam war.
<<< End of Article >>>
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Date: 12 Mar 85 10:13:11 PST (Tuesday)
From: Wedekind.es@Xerox
Subject: US, USSR nuclear arsenal strengths
To: Arms-D@MIT-MC.ARPA
This table, bylined James Owens, appeared in Sunday's LA Times.
Weapon System US Soviet Features
STRATEGIC WEAPONS
(range > 3,000 mi)
ICBMs 1,032 1,398 30-min flight time;
Warheads 2.132 5.800 most accurate; have
Throwweight* (Mlbs) 0.45 2.1 close, continuous
communications
SUBMARINE-LAUNCHED 640 942 15-20 min flight time;
BALLISTIC MISSILES increasingly accurate;
Warheads 5,728 2,500 not in constant, close
Throwweight* (Mlbs) 0.3 0.5 communication; highly
survivable at sea
BOMBERS 263 155 6-8 hrs flight time;
Bombs/cruise missiles 3,280 420 highly accurate;
(Throwweight* n.a.) recallable before
halfway to dest'n; good
survival if on alert;
US faces substantial
Soviet defenses while
US defenses minimal
TOTALS
Launch vehicles 1,935 2,493 Both under SALT I
Warheads 11,140 8,720 ceilings, but Soviets
Missile haven't reduced to 2,250
throwweight (Mlbs) 0.8 2.6 limit called for in
unratified SALT II
* millions of pounds (sic). Throwweight is the product of payload
weight multiplied by the range of a weapon, and is one measure of the
"destructive potential" of a weapon.
------------------------
INTERMEDIATE RANGE MISSILES
(1,000-3,000 miles)
Missiles 109 378 US missiles have 1 war-
Bombers (US count) 560 3,095 head; Soviet missiles
(Soviet count) 555 461 3 warheads; older
Soviet and British/
French systems excluded
------------------------
SPACE WEAPONS
ANTI-MISSILE SYSTEMS
GROUND-BASED
Missiles 0 100 Soviet interceptors
Radars 5 6 or 7 allowed by treaty.
Radars phased-array type;
built or being built
SPACE-BASED
Status Active rsrch Active rsrch Soviets started earlier,
spent more; US ahead
in key sensor,
computer fields
ANTI-SATELLITE
SYSTEMS
Status In development Operational Soviet system, ready
Type Direct ascent Co-orbital since early 70s, is
Range (alt.) 3,000 miles 3,000 miles slower & less
flexible; first US
test vs space target
due in June
------------------------
Jerry
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[End of ARMS-D Digest]