Friday, 1 May 1987 Washington, DC
1.
A STATEMENT ON SDI WAS ADOPTED BY THE APS COUNCIL
at its
meeting last Friday following the public release of the Study
Group's report on directed energy
weapons (WN 24 Apr 87). The
statement of the Council goes beyond the issues of DEW covered in
the Study and concludes that, "In view of the large gap between
current technology and the advanced levels required for an
effective missile defense . . . It is the judgement of the
Council of the American Physical Society that there should be no
early commitment to the deployment of an SDI system."
2
. A PHASED DEPLOYMENT OF STRATEGIC DEFENSES BEGINNING AS EARLY AS 1993
was called for by Secretary of Defense Weinberger in a
speech to the Commonwealth Club of California on Monday. His
optimism clearly undimmed by the APS Study, Weinberger expressed
his belief that "no major technical roadblocks will stand between
us and the deployment of the first phase of SDI." The first
phase he described would be a layered defense incorporating both
space-based and ground-based kinetic energy weapons. Although he
acknowledged that it would provide only a partial defense, he
arrived at the remarkable conclusion that it would so dishearten
the Russians that they would reduce their ballistic missile
force. The entire history of the arms race would lead almost
anyone else to conclude that Moscow would simply increase its
missiles to offset potential losses to the KEW defense. A recent
study estimates those losses at
16% (WN 10 Apr 87). Weinberger's
speech was itself the first phase of a full court press for early
deployment.
3. SDI CONTRACTORS AT AN AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS
AND ASTRONAUTICS
meeting on Wednesday learned more details about the
"phased deployment" from a six-member panel headed by General
Abrahamson, Director of the SDI Organization. Abrahamson
attempted to draw a distinction between phased deployment and
early deployment. The first phase might come early, but "it is a
step in a process building toward a long term goal." He spoke in
terms of "milestones," with milestone 0 representing the creation
of SDIO. He predicted they would pass milestone 1 in late June,
after which the emphasis would shift from projects to systems.
Abrahamson was followed by Gen. Chubb, who referred to the
"awesome progress" on SDI in the past year and described plans
for a space-based component consisting of 650 weapons platforms,
each with 15 kinetic energy interceptors capable of attacking
missiles in the boost phase.
4. AN SDI BUDGET OF $4.5B WAS APPROVED BY THE SENATE ARMED
SERVICES COMMITTEE
yesterday. That is below the $5.8B in the
President's asking budget, but not as low as most people had
expected and certainly not as low as it will be after it gets
worked over on the floor of the Senate.
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