SPACE.com -- ABM Treaty Withdrawal Likely to Boost Space-Based Laser Work

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	ABM Treaty Withdrawal Likely to Boost Space-Based Laser Work By Leonard David Senior Space Writer posted: 07:00 am ET 18 December 2001

WASHINGTON -- The decision by U

WASHINGTON -- The decision by U.S. President George W. Bush to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty spurs research beneficial to orbiting space-based lasers as part of a global missile defense shield.

Bush announced Thursday from the White House Rose Garden that he has set in motion a six-month period of notice for withdrawal from the 1972 treaty.

"Today, I have given formal notice to Russia, in accordance with the treaty, that the United States of America is withdrawing from this almost 30-year-old treaty," Bush said. "I have concluded the ABM treaty hinders our government's ability to develop ways to protect our people from future terrorist or rogue-state missile attacks."

"Today, as the events of September the 11th made all too clear, the greatest threats to both our countries come not from each other, or other big powers in the world, but from terrorists who strike without warning, or rogue states who seek weapons of mass destruction," Bush said.

"We know that the terrorists, and some of those who support them, seek the ability to deliver death and destruction to our doorstep via missile. And we must have the freedom and the flexibility to develop effective defenses against those attacks," Bush said.

Global coverage

Pulling out of the ABM treaty does not tie directly into moving ahead with space-based laser weaponry. However, according to SPACE.com sources, this action sets in motion ballistic missile defense research and technology work that can advance the day of orbiting lasers.

According to SPACE.com sources close to the Space-Based Laser (SBL) project, now under the auspices of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), cross-flow from ground and air missile defense research should help define and design space-based anti-missile weaponry.

"Ground, air, and ultimately space-based laserthese are all very complimentary to transforming the way we do warfare. And the one thing you get from space is global coverage," the source said.

A Space-Based Laser Integrated Flight Experiment (SBL-IFX) is set to orbit in the 2012 time frame. A success of that high-tech demonstration could spur deployment of a global network of space-based laser platforms, built for speed. That is, missiles in flight could be killed by a speed-of-light laser blast.

Space shakeout

Work continues in studying high frequency laser systems, ways to control and direct a powerful laser beam, and in optics and mirror technology. The orbiting SBL-IFX test would bring together hardware and software in a space shakeout of the concept.

Last October, a major review of the SBL-IFX took place. Outcome of that review matured the design, helped reduce technology stumbling blocks, and refined manufacturing ideas.

Meanwhile, other milestones for the space-based laser effort draw closer.

For one, a go-ahead approaches -- if Congress green-lights monies -- to sub-contract an architectural firm to build a test site for space-based laser work. The team has already picked a slug of land at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

Also ahead, if funding is forthcoming, lies contract work on the SBL-IFX's primary mirror.

Is everybody happy?

One group not pleased with President Bush's decision to withdraw from the ABM treaty is the Federation of American Scientists, located here.

"The Bush Administration's decision to withdraw from the ABM treaty is both unnecessary and unwise," the group stated shortly after last weeks White House decision. "President Bush has lost focus on where his priorities should be. The President must invest at least as much energy into securing loose nuclear materials as he has into pushing missile defense," the Federation of American Scientists said in a statement.

50 American Nobel laureates, with the sponsorship of the Federation of Amercian Scientists, signed a letter that went to House and Senate leaders November 12. The letter requested that Congress not fund or build missile defense systems because they will squander resources needed to protect Americans against terrorism. In addition, the scientists urged that the ABM Treaty remain in force.

"While 'hitting a bullet with a bullet' under laboratory conditions is feasible, it is far more difficult to design a system that can survive and provide effective protection against a surprise attack that employs varying countermeasures, some of which may surprise the defense. The inherent advantages of the offense exceed the advantages of superior American technology," the letter stated.