Strategic Defense Initiative
From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), commonly called Star Wars after the popular science fiction movies, was a system proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983<ref name="fas_milestones">Federation of American Scientists. Missile Defense Milestones. Accessed March 10, 2006.</ref> to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the previous strategic offense doctrine of mutual assured destruction. Though it was never fully implemented, the research and technologies of SDI paved the way for the Anti-ballistic missile systems of today. The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) was set up in 1984 within the United States Department of Defense to the Strategic Defense Initiative. Under the administration of President Bill Clinton in 1993, its name was changed to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and its emphasis was shifted from national missile defense to theater missile defense, i.e. from global to regional coverage. This article covers defense efforts under the SDIO.
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"A splendid idea"
The initial focus of the strategic defense initiative was a nuclear explosion powered X-ray laser designed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory by a young scientist named Peter Hagelstein who worked with a team called O Group, doing much of the work in the late 1970s and early 1980s. O Group was headed by physicist Lowell Wood, a protégé and friend of Edward Teller, the "father of the hydrogen bomb".
Ronald Reagan was told of Hagelstein's breakthrough by Teller in 1983, which prompted Reagan's March 23, 1983, "Star Wars" speech. Reagan announced, "I call upon the scientific community who gave us nuclear weapons to turn their great talents to the cause of mankind and world peace: to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete." This speech, along with Reagan's Evil Empire speech on March 8, 1983, in Florida, ushered in the last phase of the Cold War, bringing the nuclear standoff with the Soviet Union to its most critical point before the collapse of the Soviet Union later that decade.
The concept for the space-based portion was to use lasers to shoot down incoming Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) armed with nuclear warheads. Eminent physicist Hans Bethe went to Livermore and strenuously interrogated Hagelstein about the correctness of his theory. After much work showing multiple mathematical calculations on a nearby blackboard, the young scientist was able to convince Bethe of the completeness of his ideas, prompting Bethe to state that it was "a splendid idea," one "which has been quite carefully thought out," and that it was the only truly good one being studied at Livermore at that time, which was 1982. Later, Bethe attacked it on political grounds (see criticism below).
Project and proposals
Image:C13571-8a.jpg In 1984, the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) was established to oversee the program, which was headed by Lt. General James Alan Abrahamson, USAF, a past Director of the NASA Space Shuttle program.<ref name="fas_milestones">Federation of American Scientists. Missile Defense Milestones. Accessed March 10, 2006.</ref> Research and development initiated by the SDIO created significant technological advances in computer systems, component miniaturization, sensors and missile systems that form the basis for current systems.
Initially, the program focused on large scale systems designed to defeat a Soviet offensive strike. However, as the threat diminished, the program shifted towards smaller systems designed to defeat limited or accidental launches.
By 1987, the SDIO developed a national missile defense concept called the Strategic Defense System Phase I Architecture. This concept consisted of ground and space based sensors and weapons, as well as a central battle management system.<ref>Missile Defense Agency. History of the Missile Defense Organization. Accessed March 10, 2006.</ref> The ground-based systems operational today trace their roots back to this concept.
In his 1991 State of the Union Address George H. W. Bush shifted the focus of SDI from defense of North America against large scale strikes to a system focusing on theater missile defense called Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS).<ref>North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Limited Ballistic Missile Strikes. Accessed April 27, 2006.</ref>
In 1993, the Clinton administration, further shifted the focus to ground-based interceptor missiles and theater scale systems, forming the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and closing the SDIO. Ballistic missile defense has been revived by the George W. Bush administration as the National Missile Defense and Ground-based Midcourse Defense.
Ground-based programs
Extended Range Interceptor (ERINT)
The ERINT program was part of SDI's Theater Missile Defense Program and was an extension of the Flexible Lightweight Agile Guided Experiment (FLAGE), which included developing hit-to-kill technology and demonstrating the guidance accuracy of a small, agile, radar-homing vehicle.
FLAGE scored a direct hit against a MGM-52 Lance missile in flight, at White Sands Missile Range in 1987. ERINT was a prototype missile similar to the FLAGE, but it used a new solid-propellant rocket motor allowing it to fly faster and higher than FLAGE.
Under BMDO, ERINT was later chosen as the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile.<ref>White Sands Missile Range. ERINT -- Extended Range Interceptor. Accessed March 10, 2006.</ref>
Homing Overlay Experiment (HOE)
Image:SO4 Hoe open Web.jpg It was the first system tested by the Army that employed hit-to-kill, four test launches were conducted in 1983 and 1984. The first three tests failed because of guidance and sensor problems, but the fourth test succeeded. This technology was later used by the SDIO and expanded into the Exoatmospheric Reentry-vehicle Interception System (ERIS) program.<ref>Encyclopedia Astronautica. SVC / Lockheed HOE. Accessed March 10, 2006.</ref>
Exoatmospheric Reentry-vehicle Interception System (ERIS)
Developed by Lockheed as part of the ground based interceptor portion of SDI beginning in 1985. At least two tests occurred in the early 1990s. This system was never deployed, but the technology of the system were used in the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and the Ground Based Interceptor currently deployed as part of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system.<ref>Encyclopedia Astronautica. Lockheed ERIS. Accessed March 10, 2006.</ref>
Directed-energy weapon (DEW) programs
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X-ray laser
An early focus of the project was to be a curtain of X-ray lasers powered by nuclear explosions. The curtain was to be deployed, first by a series of missiles launched from submarines during the critical seconds following a Soviet attack, then later by satellites and powered by nuclear warheads built into the satellites - in theory the energy from the warhead detonation was to pump a series of laser emitters in the missiles or satellites and produce an impenetrable barrier to incoming warheads. However, the first test on March 26, 1983,<ref>United States Department of Energy. United States Nuclear Tests 1945-1992. Accessed March 10, 2006.</ref>, known as the Cabra event, which was performed in an underground shaft, resulted in marginally positive readings that could be dismissed as a faulty detector. Since a nuclear explosion was the power source, the detector was destroyed during the experiment and the results could not be confirmed. Critics often cite the X-ray laser system as the primary focus of SDI and its apparent failure becomes a main reason to oppose SDI. However, the laser was never more than one of the many systems being researched for ballistic missile defense.
Despite the apparent failure of the Cabra test, the long term legacy of the X-ray laser program is the knowledge gained while conducting the research. Several spin-offs include a laboratory x-ray laser for biological imaging and creation of 3D holograms of living organisms, creation of advanced materials like SEAgel and Aerogel, the Electron-Beam Ion Trap facility for physics research and enhanced techniques for early detection of breast cancer.<ref>Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Legacy of the X-Ray Laser Program (PDF). November 1994. Accessed April 29, 2006.</ref>
Chemical laser
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Beginning in 1985, the Air Force tested a deuterium fluoride laser known as Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) at White Sands funded by the SDIO. During a simulation, the laser successfully destroyed a Titan missile booster in 1985 and it was successfully tested on target drones simulating cruise missiles for the US Navy. After the SDIO closed, the MIRACL was unsuccessfully tested on an old Air Force Satellite for potential use as an Anti-satellite weapon. The technology was also used to develop the Tactical High Energy Laser(THEL) which is being tested to shoot down artillery shells.<ref>Federation of American Scientists. Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser. Accessed April 8, 2006.</ref>
Neutral Particle Beam
In July 1989, the Beam Experiments Aboard a Rocket (BEAR) program launched a sounding rocket containing a neutral particle beam (NPB) accelerator. The experiment successfully demonstrated that a particle beam would operate and propagate as predicted outside the atmosphere and that there are no unexpected side-effects to firing the beam in space. After the rocket was recovered, the particle beam was still operational.<ref>Nunz, G. J.; Los Alamos National Laboratory. BEAR (Beam Experiments Aboard a Rocket) Project. Volume 1: Project Summary. Accessed April 29, 2006.</ref> According to the BMDO, the research on neutral particle beam accelerators, which was originally funded by the SDIO, could eventually be used to reduce the half life of nuclear waste products using accelerator-driven transmutation technology.<ref>Missile Defense Agency. BMDO funded research may help reduce the impact of nuclear waste (PDF). Accessed April 29, 2006.</ref>
Laser and mirror experiments
The High Precision Tracking Experiment (HPTE), launched with the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-G, was tested June 21, 1985 when a Hawaii-based low-power laser successfully tracked the experiment and bounced the laser off of the HPTE mirror.
The Relay mirror experiment (RME), launched in February 1990, demonstrated critical technologies for space-based relay mirrors to be used with an SDI Directed-energy weapon system. The experiment validated stabilization, tracking and pointing concepts and proved that a laser could be relayed from the ground to a 60 cm mirror on an orbiting satellite and back to another ground station with a high degree of accuracy and for extended durations.<ref>Lieutenant General Malcolm R. O'Neill. Statement of Lieutenant General Malcolm R. O'Neill, USA, Director, BMDO before the Committee on National Security, House of Representatives, April 4, 1995. Accessed March 11, 2006.</ref>
Launched on the same rocket as the RME, the Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment (LACE) satellite was built by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to explore atmospheric distortion of lasers and real-time adaptive compensation for that distortion. The LACE satellite also included several other experiments to help develop and improve SDI sensors, including target discrimination using background radiation and tracking ballistic missiles using Ultra-Violet Plume Imaging (UVPI).<ref>Encyclopedia Astronautica. Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment (LACE). Accessed April 29, 2006.</ref> The research efforts of LACE eventually led to civilian uses such as adaptive optics, a technique used to remove atmospheric distortions.
Space-based programs
Space-Based Interceptor (SBI)
Groups of interceptors were to be housed in orbital modules. Successful hover testing was completed in 1988 and demonstrated successful integration of the sensor and propulsion systems in the prototype SBI. It also demonstrated the ability of the seeker to shift its aim-point from a rocket's hot plume to its cool body, a first for infrared ABM seekers. Final hover testing occurred in 1992 using miniaturized components similar to what would have actually been used in an operational interceptor. These prototypes eventually evolved into the Brilliant Pebbles program.<ref name="fas">Federation of American Scientists. Ballistic Missile Defense. Accessed March 10, 2006.</ref>
Brilliant Pebbles
Image:Brilliant pebbles.jpg Brilliant Pebbles was a non-nuclear system of satellite-based, watermelon-sized,<ref>Claremont Institute. Brilliant Pebbles. Accessed March 11, 2006.</ref> mini-missiles designed to use a high-velocity kinetic warhead.<ref>The Heritage Foundation. Brilliant Pebbles. Accessed March 11, 2006.</ref> It was designed to operate in conjunction with the Brilliant Eyes sensor system and would have detected and destroyed missiles without any external guidance.
John H. Nuckolls, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1988 to 1994, described the system as “The crowning achievement of the Strategic Defense Initiative”. The technologies developed for SDI were used in numerous later projects. For example, the sensors and cameras that were developed for Brilliant Pebbles became components of the Clementine mission and SDI technologies may also have a role in future missile defense efforts.<ref>Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Summary of Brilliant Pebbles.Accessed March 11, 2006.</ref>
Though regarded as one of the most capable SDI systems, the Brilliant Pebbles program was canceled in 1994 by the BMDO.<ref>Federation of American Scientists. Ballistic Missile Defense Technology: Is the United States Ready for A Decision to Deploy?. Accessed March 11, 2006.</ref> However, it is being reevaluated for possible future use by the MDA.
Sensor programs
SDIO sensor research encompassed visible light, ultra-violet, infrared and RADAR technologies, and eventually led to the Clementine mission though that mission occurred just after the program transitioned to the BMDO. Like other parts of SDI the sensor system initially was very large scale, but after the Soviet threat diminished it was scaled down.
Boost Surveillance and Tracking System (BSTS)
BSTS was part of the SDIO in the late-80's, and was designed to assist detection of missile launches especially during the boost phase. However, once the SDI program shifted toward theater missile defense, the system left SDIO control in the early 90's and was transferred to the Air Force.<ref>Federation of American Scientists. Boost Surveillance and Tracking System (BSTS). Accessed March 10, 2006.</ref>
Space Surveillance and Tracking System (SSTS)
SSTS was a system originally designed for tracking ballistic missiles during their mid-course phase. It was designed to work in conjunction with BSTS, but was later scaled down for the Brilliant Eyes program.<ref name="fas">Federation of American Scientists. Ballistic Missile Defense. Accessed March 10, 2006.</ref>
Brilliant Eyes
Brilliant Eyes was a simpler derivative of the Space Surveillance and Tracking System (SSTS) that focused on theater ballistic missiles rather than ICBMs and was meant to operate in conjunction with the Brilliant Pebbles system.
Brilliant Eyes was renamed Space and Missile Tracking System (SMTS) and scaled back further under BMDO, and in the late 1990s it became the low earth orbit component of the Air Force's Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS).<ref>Federation of American Scientists. Space and Missile Tracking System. Accessed March 11, 2006.</ref>
Controversy and criticism
SDI is believed to have been first dubbed "Star Wars" by opponent Dr. Carol Rosin, a consultant and former spokeswoman of Wernher von Braun. Some critics used that term derisively, implying it is an impractical science fiction fantasy, but supporters have adopted the usage as well on the grounds that yesterday's science fiction is often tomorrow's engineering.
Ashton Carter, a fellow at MIT, assessed SDI for Congress in 1984. He said there were a number of difficulties in creating an adequate missile defense shield, with or without lasers. He said X-rays have a limited scope because they become diffused through the atmosphere, much like the beam of a flash light spreading outward in all directions. This means the X-rays needed to be close to the Soviet Union, especially during the critical few minutes of the booster phase, in order for the Soviet missiles to be both detectable to radar and targeted by the lasers themselves. Opponents disagreed, saying advances in technology, such as using very strong laser beams, and by "bleaching" the column of air surrounding the laser beam, could increase the distance that the X-ray would reach to successfully hit its target. Physicist Hans Bethe, who worked with Teller on both the atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb, both at Los Alamos, claimed a laser defense shield was unfeasible. He said that a defensive system was costly and difficult to build, but simple to destroy, and claimed that the Soviets could easily use thousands of decoys to overwhelm it during a nuclear attack. He believed that the only way to stop the threat of nuclear war was through diplomacy and dismissed the idea of a technical solution to the Cold War, saying that a defense shield could be viewed as threatening because it would limit or destroy Soviet offensive capabilities while leaving the American offense intact. In March 1984, Bethe coauthored a 106-page report for the Union of Concerned Scientists that concluded "the X-ray laser offers no prospect of being a useful component in a system for ballistic missile defense."<ref name="UCS">Union of Concerned Scientists. Space-Based Missile Defense: A Report by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Cambridge, MA. March 1984.</ref>
Teller countered that Bethe and the other anti-defense activists could not have it both ways. Teller said Bethe had helped him usher in the nuclear age, had become opposed to nuclear weapons and afraid of nuclear war. But, Bethe was also opposed to stopping the threat of offensive capabilities through massive defensive programs. Teller testified before Congress that Bethe, "instead of objecting on scientific and technical grounds, which he thoroughly understands, he now objects on the grounds of politics, on grounds of military feasibility of military deployment, on other grounds of difficult issues which are quite outside the range of his professional cognizance or mine."
Supporters of SDI hail it for contributing to or at least accelerating the fall of the Soviet Union by the strategy of technology, which was a prevalent doctrine at the time. At Reagan and Gorbachev's October 1986 meeting in Iceland, Gorbachev opposed this defensive shield, while Reagan wanted to keep it, and offered to give the technology to the Soviets. Gorbachev said he didn't believe the offer. Both Reagan and Gorbachev proposed total elimination of all nuclear-armed missiles, but SDI and intermediate-range missiles were sticking points.<ref>CNN. Reagan-Gorbachev Transcripts. Accessed March 25, 2006.</ref> While SDI was a disagreement, the Reykjavik Summit led to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which some have claimed was an outgrowth of Gorbachev's fear of SDI. Opponents of the program say that Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms were the cause of the USSR's collapse and that SDI was an unrealistic and expensive program.
Timeline
Template:SDIO timeline
Fiction and popular culture
Because of public awareness of the program and its controversial nature, SDI has been the subject of many fictional and pop culture references. This is not intended to be a complete list of those references.
In novels:
- Dale Brown's novel Silver Tower details the adventures on and around a space station that employs an anti-ICBM laser system called Skybolt against a Soviet invasion of Iran.
- Tom Clancy's novel The Cardinal of the Kremlin is based on part of a race between the USA and USSR to complete laser-based SDI systems.
- Homer Hickam Jr's novel Back to the Moon used leftover SDI weapons, similar to Brilliant Pebbles, in an attempt to kill the crew of shuttle Columbia.
In computer games:
- In the Civilization series, there are several references to ICBM defense systems similar to SDI.
- In Rise of Nations, there is a technology called the Missile Shield.
- In Star Control, outdated, surplus SDI weapons are common secondary weapons on Earth starships.
In motion pictures:
- RoboCop, a brief satirical news story mentions how the Ronald Reagan memorial Strategic Defense platform in orbit malfunctioned, destroying a swath of Southern California in the process.
- Spies Like Us follows two duped 'spies' who are told to launch a single Soviet missile towards the USA as part of a black ops operation to demonstrate and justify the expense of SDI.
In music:
- "Star Wars Won't Work" was a song from the 1991 Frank Zappa album Make a Jazz Noise Here.
See also
- Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO)
- National Missile Defense (NMD)
- Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
- Missile Defense Agency (MDA)
- Anti-satellite weapons
- Anti-ballistic missile
- Militarization of space
External links
- Enenstein, "US3427611", Feb., 1969 (Laser System)
- Missile Wars - A PBS Frontline report.
- The Militarization of Science and Space - Commentary and analysis by NMD critic Noam Chomsky.
- Short History of SDI History of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), including the role of Total Quality Management (TQM) in its development
- Nuclear Files.org Ronald Reagan on the Strategic Defense Initiative
--Angel 15:01, 8 June 2006 (CDT)
