Table Of ContentBeam
Weapons
The Next Arms Race
Beam
Weapons
The Next Arms Race
Jeff Hecht
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Hecht, Jeff.
Beam weapons.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Direct-energy weapons. 1. Title.
UG486.5.H43 1984 355.8'2595 83-24713
ISBN 978-0-306-41546-3
ISBN 978-0-306-41546-3 ISBN 978-1-4899-2778-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-2778-1
© JeffHecht 1984
Originally published by Plenum Press in 1984
Ali rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
For Leah, who asked why there were bombs,
and for my parents, who taught me to seek a
better world where there wouldn't be any.
Preface
I first wrote about laser weapons in 1976 in an article that was published in
the October 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction. The article was fact, but
a science fiction magazine seemed an appropriate place for it then. Now that
the President of the United States can talk about beam weapons in deadly
serious tones on national television, it seems time for a more serious look.
This book is based on my analysis of information I've gathered in years
of writing about laser technology. I have never had a security clearance, and
though that limits the information I have been able to obtain, it means that I
can say things that otherwise would be replaced by [deleted]. I have been
watching the field long enough to play "fill in the blanks" with censored
government documents and to make reasonable guesses of what many of the
[deleted]s originally said.
There are no simple answers here, just complex technical and defense
issues that deserve careful study and that are important to the future of our
nation and the world. The defense issues raised in the latter half of the book
may seem more immediate to the general reader, but they are inevitably related
to the technological background laid in Chapters 4-9. Throughout the book,
I have documented my sources as much as possible, while respecting the
confidentiality of information given in private. I feel that documentation will
add to the value of this book, particularly because a disturbing number of
articles on beam weapons have contained serious inaccuracies.
I have tried to make this book as current as possible, but no book can
keep up with the daily newspapers. As I write this, for example, Congress
is in the midst of its haggling over the fiscal 1984 defense budget, and Pentagon
analysts are working on a major study on prospects for missile defense tech
nology. By the time this book is in print, the results of the budget battle and
the Pentagon study will be known, but there is no way they can be included
here. Thus, I have focused more on central defense and technology issues
than on politics because the issues are not going to go away.
vii
viii 0 Preface
In correcting proofs, I have tried to update details, but have not been
able to make extensive changes. The emphasis of the beam weapons program
has shifted some since I finished the manuscript, with battlefield applications
fading while pop-up X-ray lasers for use against missiles have gained atten
tion. The X-ray laser, in particular, deserves a few extra words of explanation.
My impression is that the X-ray laser weapOn is a concept which has
"just grown" around an apparent breakthrough in physics and the "wish lists"
of military planners. The notion of a pop-up system, which would be launched
into space only when needed, seems to have evolved from concerns of people
like Edward Teller, who told me in a brief telephone interview that he had
never advocated basing systems in orbit because they would be too vulnerable
there. Having a system that would be stationed on the ground or in submarines
for launch when needed evidently would get around those objections. Un
fortunately, this concept has received very little critical examination in public.
Although the X-ray laser program is shrouded in exceptionally heavy
layers of government secrecy, a general idea of the concept has leaked out,
and is discussed in Chapters 6 and 11. It may be possible to build a compact
array of X-ray lasers that can be launched into space by a single missile, but
I don't see how the equipment needed to track the targets and aim the lasers
can be put into the same package. It might be possible to put some of the
target identification and tracking gear on a separate satellite, but that would
not avoid the fundamental problem, and would introduce the added compli
cation of having to align the satellites precisely with respect to each other.
If someone does find a way around the fomlidable technical difficulties,
a pop-up X -ray laser weapon system could be the realization of the nightmares
of the harshest critics of beam weapons. Building one would almost certainly
mean a repudiation of two decades of arms control, dating back to the 1963
Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. It is hard to imagine any way the weapons
could pop up from the ground or submarines to do their job in the 15 minutes
it takes submarine-launched ballistic missiles to reach their targets-or even
in the half-hour transit times of ground-launched intercontinental ballistic
missiles. Yet putting them in place beforehand-but during a crisis-would
be severely destabilizing, to say the least. Given those assumptions, you don't
have to be a radical critic of the beam-weapon program to conclude that the
most credible role for a pop-up X-ray laser system is as part of a first-strike
system, which would be put in place before the attack to defend against any
enemy missiles which survived a massive nuclear first strike.
I am not convinced that is the explicit intent of the X-ray laser program,
though it would explain the prevalent secrecy. I think it more likely that the
Department of Defense is only studying the possibilities of the X-ray laser.
Preface 0 ix
But as mentioned in Chapter 14, there are "first strikers" within the Pentagon,
and they may be actively pushing for such capabilities.
Ultimately, this book is my own, particularly the mistakes my uneasy
nerves tell me must be lurking somewhere. Yet it would not have been possible
without help from many people. Linda Greenspan Regan of Plenum believed
in it back before beam weapons hit the headlines, and kept me working on
it. Barry Smernoff and Paul Nahin provided many stimulating phone con
versations and a wealth of ideas. Ervin Nalos, Ray Schaefer, Alan Stein, Ron
Waynant, and Gerry Yonas made helpful comments on portions of earlier
drafts and shared their ideas with me. Col. Fred Holmes and Louis C. Marquet
of the Department of Defense helped me get the facts straight on the de
partment's unclassified activities. Others too numerous to mention have also
taken the time to talk with me. Several people have given me copies of
unpublished or hard-to-find reports; among them are Michael Callaham, Rich
ard Garwin, Sen. Howell Heflin, Kosta Tsipis, and Sen. Malcolm Wallop.
Col. Holmes and Jack Powers of the Department of Defense have been most
helpful in getting me unclassified information and illustrations. Art Giordani
turned my crude pencil sketches into clear and publishable drawings. And
my wife Lois not only put up with the whole time-consuming business of
writing a book but also offered her own helpful comments and did much of
the legwork needed to get the pieces together.
Auburndale, Mass.
Contents
1 0 An Introduction to Beam Weaponry ............................... 1
2 0 Turning Fiction into Fact: An Outline of History .................... 15
3 0 Beam Weapon Mythology ...................................... 39
4 0 High-Energy Laser Technology .................................. 53
5 0 Hitting the Target: Beam and Fire Control ......................... 85
6 0 The Strange Saga of the X-Ray Laser ............................ 115
7 0 Particle-Beam Technology ..................................... 141
8 0 High-Power Microwaves: The Zapping of Hardware ................ 161
9 0 Countermeasures, Counter-Countermeasures, Ad Infinitum ........... 175
10 0 The Modem Military: High-Technology Warfare ................... 195
11 0 Defense Against Nuclear Attack ................................. 213
12 0 Antisatellite Weapons ......................................... 243
13 0 Battlefield Beam Weapons ..................................... 265
14 0 A Revolution in Defense Strategy ............................... 295
15 0 Beams on the Battlefield: A New Generation of Tactical Weapons ..... 317
16 0 Beam Weapons and Strategic Arms Control ....................... 325
17 0 Conclusion: Where Are Beam Weapons Going? .................... 335
Appendix .......................................................... 353
Index ............................................................. 355
xi
1 D An Introduction to
Beam Weaponry
President Ronald Reagan thrust beam weapons into the spotlight on March
23, 1983, when he urged development of a system that "could intercept and
destroy strategic ballistic missiles before they reached our own soil or that of
our allies."! Although he did not specify the technology, White House aides
explained after the speech that possibilities included lasers, high-energy par
ticle beams, and microwaves. 2 Those three technologies are all beam weapons,
known as "directed-energy" weapons in the halls of the Pentagon.
What has been called Reagan's Star Wars speech was not something
new but was rather the first presidential-level recognition of an ongoing pro
gram. His speech did not stimulate this book-the first draft was sitting in
the publisher's offices at the time. Through the end of fiscal 1982, the United
States had spent over $2 billion trying to develop beam weapons (detailed in
Appendix 1). The fiscal 1983 budget-proposed by the Reagan Administration
in January 1982 and finally approved by Congress in modified form at the
end of that year-included over $400 million for beam weapons. Not all that
money was earmarked for ballistic missile defense; the Pentagon is looking
at many other potential uses for beam weapons. Nonetheless, efforts to de
velop beam weapons had escaped widespread attention until Reagan's speech.
Controversy surrounded the Reagan proposal in the days after his speech,
much as it has enveloped the whole idea of beam weapons wherever it has
surfaced. Congressional Democrats and civilian critics of the Administration's
defense policy described the proposal for ballistic missile defense as dangerous
and unworkable. Soviet leader Yuri Andropov labeled it "irresponsible" and
"insane.,,3 Some of the names attached to the debate were new, but most of
the ideas were familiar to those of us who have been watching the scene for
years.
What's going on? A new technology is being drawn into the arms race.
Military planners in the United States-and evidently in the Soviet Union as
1
Description:I first wrote about laser weapons in 1976 in an article that was published in the October 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction. The article was fact, but a science fiction magazine seemed an appropriate place for it then. Now that the President of the United States can talk about beam weapons in dea
