Soviets Secretly Developed Space-Based Weapons

LONDON (April 14, 1997 3:55 p.m. EDT) -- While the former Soviet Union was publicly denouncing the U.S. "Star Wars" initiative in the 1980s, it was secretly developing its own space-based weapon systems, including a space battle station, according to Jane's Intelligence Review.

But there was a key difference in the Soviet and American approaches: The U.S. program was aimed at defending the country against ballistic missile attacks, while the Soviet program was designed to destroy enemy targets on the ground as well, the magazine said.

Since the Soviet break-up in 1989, Jane's said, the Soviet program "has lost most, if not all, of its funding." The U.S. government is still funding a multibillion-dollar research program for a scaled-down version of the "Star Wars" missile defense system.

The Jane's article, "Red Star Wars," was written by Steven Zaloga, a military analyst for the Teal Group Corp. of Fairfax, Va., a defense and aerospace consultancy. He has written extensively on Russian missile development.

Zaloga said recent Russian revelations provide intriguing details on the Soviet program and show that Moscow's propaganda campaign against "Star Wars" was partly intended to hide "one of the Soviet Union's most secret defense programs."

"These Soviet designs were dogs -- real losers," said John Pike, an expert on Soviet missile defenses with the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. He said Zaloga relied on Russian material released several months ago but not widely circulated.

"It really helps to understand why the Soviets were so concerned about 'Star Wars' because when they looked at the American program and compared it with their own pathetic designs, I think they just realized this was something they could not match," Pike said.

The idea behind former President Reagan's "Star Wars" project was to station lasers in space to obliterate ballistic missiles.

According to Zaloga, Soviet scientists had been secretly theorizing about space-based weaponry since the 1960s but were spurred into action by "Star Wars" and the U.S. space shuttle program.

"The Soviets feared that the space shuttle was the central element in a new generation of space strike weapons" which could be delivered against targets on earth, Zaloga said.

The Soviets also feared the space shuttle could deliver and support combat spacecraft, he said.

In 1983, Zaloga said, Soviet leader Yuri Andropov ordered an acceleration of the space strike program and a shift to developing technologies to field space-based weapons and to counter the U.S. "Star Wars" program.

One design bureau examined the possible use of laser weapons against satellites, and another studied the possibility of using them against ballistic missiles in a program called Terra-3, he said.

On Oct. 10, 1984, a Terra-3 laser at low power tracked the 13th Challenger space shuttle mission, causing unspecified malfunctions on the shuttle and distress to the crew, he said. The incident led to a formal U.S. diplomatic protest.

But Terra-3 did not prove practical as a weapon, Zaloga said.

Meanwhile, the NPO Energia space development center based in Kaliningrad was working on a space battle station complex.

According to a recently released history of Energia's operations, it included two types of spacecraft, one armed with a laser weapon and the other with self-guided missiles, Zaloga said.

Energia also worked on a small missile interceptor similar to the U.S. Brilliant Pebbles concept, he said. It was designed to crash into ballistic missiles and destroy them.

Energia's final project was a space-based battle station where four or more wingless "combat modules" could dock, he said. The modules were to be armed with ballistic missiles or nuclear glide bombs, both intended for targets on earth, he said.

"This system, which violated prevailing treaties on the militarization of space, apparently did not proceed beyond design studies," Zaloga said.