DOD wants to boost ASAT program.DOD (1) (Dial On Demand) A feature that allows a device to automatically dial a telephone number. For example, an ISDN router with dial on demand will automatically dial up the ISP when it senses IP traffic destined for the Internet. wants to boost ASAT ASAT abbr. antisatellite Adj. 1. ASAT - of or relating to a system to destroy satellites in orbit; "antisatellite weapons" antisatellite program "The Soviet Union has the world's only operational ASAT[antisatellite an·ti·sat·el·lite adj. Directed against enemy satellites: antisatellite weapons. Adj. 1. antisatellite weapons] system,' says Brigadier General Robert R. Rankine Jr., director of the Air Force office of space systems. This leaves the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. in the awkward position of being unable to "respond in kind' if the Soviets destroy a U.S. satellite, he says. As a result, any U.S. response may be viewed by the Soviets as a harsher-than-necessary retaliation RETALIATION. The act by which a nation or individual treats another in the same manner that the latter has treated them. For example, if a nation should lay a very heavy tariff on American goods, the United States would be justified in return in laying heavy duties on the manufactures and and thereby risk provoking the escalation of a crisis. To address this ASAT imbalance, Rankine announced earlierthis month that the Department of Defense (DOD) has restructured its ASAT-development program and requested that Congress rescind To declare a contract void—of no legal force or binding effect—from its inception and thereby restore the parties to the positions they would have occupied had no contract ever been made. rescind v. its ban on the testing of ASAT components against objects in space. The revised ASAT program, which would cost $1.2 billionover two years, would continue to focus testing on its most developed weapon, the miniature homing vehicle ASAT. (Though the actual design of these weapons is classified, they are sometimes casually described as "heavy soup cans,' to collide with--and thereby "kill'--satellites.) The program would also speed studies aimed at identifying the best method for boosting the operational altitude of these ASATs, such as by launching them from the ground aboard a Pershing II missile. Finally, it would begin exploring (through the Strategic Defense Initiative Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), U.S. government program responsible for research and development of a space-based system to defend the nation from attack by strategic ballistic missiles (see guided missile). program) use of excimer lasers (SN: 7/21/84, p.42) as part of a potential ground- or space-based ASAT. Though DOD hopes to produce deployable ASATs by 1989,Rankine says this timetable is jeopardized by the current, congressional ban on testing of weapons against objects in space. But congressional arms-control analysts consider it unlikely that the ban will be removed. In fact, Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D-Calif.) has introduced a bill requesting that the ban be extended for at least another year. Brown says the Soviet Union, which has not conducted ASAT tests since June 1982, has promised to continue its moratorium as long as the United States also refrains from space testing. He argues that with the United States more dependent than the Soviets on military satellites, "if both nations develop potent ASATs, we lose.' |
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