ARPAVAX:C70:arms-d (10/08/82)
>From HGA@MIT-MC Fri Oct 8 01:16:10 1982
Arms-Discussion Digest Volume 0 : Issue 161
Today's Topics:
About X-Ray lasers & Lawrence Livermore:
IEEE Spectrum War + Peace Issue
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Date: 5 Oct 82 22:14:48-EDT (Tue)
From: J C Pistritto <jcp@BRL>
Subject: Re: Arms-Discussion Digest V0 #160
About X-Ray lasers & Lawrence Livermore:
An article in AW&ST about 6 months ago on strategic defenses
mentioned the Livermore project, which would use a satellite network
of 'porcupine' satellites, each of which would be a sperical nuclear
device, with dense rods attached to the exterior, sticking out like
needles of a porcupine.
Each rod would be steerable, and each device would contain
some number of them (say 20). The satellites tracking/target
acquisition logic would point them at potential Soviet targets, and
then the nuclear device would be detonated, inducing lasing in the
rods in the X-Ray and maybe Gamma ray regions.
An theoretical efficiency of some 40% was claimed, if all rods
were tracking a target at the point of detonation. The satellite is,
of course, destroyed in the process. It was mentioned that the
satellites might be stored in vacated Minuteman silos, and launched
into low earth orbit during periods of international crisis. It is
not certain how to recover them once launched, but since they aren't
very large, (mass under 2000 lbs), several could probably fit in
Shuttle.
They are envisioned as Tier 2 of a multi-tier Ballistic
Missile Defense (BMD) umbrella:
1) Boost Phase Intercept High Energy Lasers/
Particle Beam
Large Space Battle stations
2) Coast Phase/Atmosphere Porcupine satellites
Interface
3) Ionospheric Intercept ABM missils ala Safeguard
Nuclear detonation required
4) Stratosphere & below LOADs style conventional
homing missiles, placed around
high-value targets.
The idea is to knock out some percentage of the Soviet weapons
at each stage. Obviosly the cheapest phases are the later ones in an
ICBM trajectory, but early phase intercepts are highly leveraged, due
to the MIRV capability of much of the Soviet arsenal. For calculation
purposes, on the average, one Boost Phase kill will eliminate 4 or 5
Stratosphere phase targets.
It is important to NOT use the particle beam type weapons over
one's home territory, as any splatter/misses tend to ionize the
atmosphere, effectively 'blinding' lower phase radar installations.
Very messy. Nuclear explosions do that too, so the first couple of
phases are critical to keep enough clear air for the later phases to
work properly.
-JCP-
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Date: 7 Oct 1982 0737-PDT
From: CAULKINS at USC-ECL
Subject: IEEE Spectrum War + Peace Issue
The October issue of the IEEE Spectrum devotes the entire issue (PP33
- 114) to Technology In War and Peace. I haven't had time to go over
it in detail, but a quick skimming indicates that it is full of facts
about all aspects of the problem. Some of the authors are: Richard
DeLauer, Edward Teller, William Perry, and Simon Ramo.
The "Major Power Strategies" section looks especially good - it's the
first reasonably accurate and not suffocatingly technical discussion
of nuclear war scenarios that I've seen recently.
I'll try for a more comprehensive review when I get some time.
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End of Arms-D Digest
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