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development time for new space systems and enhancing our capability to

respond rapidly to changing needs.

Initially, we will use the Shuttle as we would a larger re

placement launch vehicle.

However, should the Shuttle arrive on-orbit

In the future, we can

with a payload that did not check out properly, most payloads could be returned to earth for adjustment or modification. design our payloads so that the Shuttle can retrieve them from low orbit when the mission is complete, and return them to earth for refurbishment and reuse, diagnostic purposes, or technological update. Another option which might be equally attractive in the Shuttle era is on-orbit servicing of payloads. Spacecraft designed for automated subsystem replacement could be serviced while in low orbit depending on mission requirements. In the long term, the Shuttle will open the way for many new technical advances in the military use of space.

The con

In FY 1979 we will procure some IUS ground support and logistics support equipment. We will also procure unique ground support equipment for Vandenberg AFB, and continue co-procurements with NASA of common Shuttle ground support and launch processing equipment. struction of Vandenberg AFB Shuttle facilities is planned to begin in April 1979. Our FY 1979 Vandenberg AFB construction program includes the Shuttle landing field, mate/demate facility, launch pad area, and the launch control center. We are also modifying our Solid Motor Assembly Building for IUS processing at Kennedy Space Center.

Since DoD plans to make extensive use of the Shuttle, the timely availability of an adequate national fleet of orbiters to support

military as well as civil users of the Shuttle is a matter of serious concern to us. The fleet size must be based on total traffic--foreign and domestic, civil and military--projected for the Shuttle. Extensive studies conducted by NASA, with Air Force support, plus detailed reviews within the Administration have led to the decision that NASA should proceed with the production of a four orbiter fleet. Additional orbiters can be considered for funding in future years in the event that projected flight rates (or loss of an orbiter) warrant augmentation of the operational fleet.

Present DoD planning for Shuttle launch is predicated on the use of NASA's Johnson Mission Control Center (JMCC) for simulation, training, and Shuttle flight control for all DoD missions. However, as currently designed, JMCC cannot handle classified payload data. A number of options for accommodating classified DoD launches in the JMCC have been evaluated over the past year by both DoD and NASA. Recently we have tentatively agreed with NASA on a low cost approach to modifying JMCC which should adequately protect classified payload launches on the Shuttle with minimum disruption to civil users. We expect to complete the validation of this approach, which we call the "controlled mode" concept, and assuming that our validation phase is successful, proceed in FY 1979 with necessary modifications to JMCC.

The Department of Defense Space Mission Model for the period FY 1977-1991 projects 195 launches, 109 of which are Shuttle launches. Initial DoD use of the Shuttle is planned for an experimental payload within the first year of its operation. Launch of DoD operational payloads begins in FY 1982, and by the mid-1980's all DoD payloads will have

transitioned from launch on current expendable boosters to Shuttle launch. During FY 1979 Satellite Data System, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, and Global Positioning System spacecraft will undergo design modifications and necessary developmental tests to assure spacecraft compatibility with the Shuttle payload bay environment. The new Defense Satellite Communications System Ill spacecraft is being designed from the out set for Shuttle launch.

The Inertial (formerly Interim) Upper Stage (IUS), which is being developed so that DoD spacecraft can be delivered to the required orbital attitude and inclination using the Shuttle from Kennedy Space Center, is now in the validation phase and will enter full scale developnent in March 1978. The IUS will be available in mid-1980 and will be used on both the Shuttle and the TITAN III launch vehicle. Using the IUS TITAN III will greatly enhance mission success and reduce costs during the early transition period when a number of our spacecraft will still

on

require TITAN 111 launches.

We are

providing a Shuttle launch and landing capability at

andenberg AFB so that we can continue to support high priority, high

clination DoD launches.

Launches into sun synchronous, polar or near

polar orbits cannot be conducted from Kennedy Space Center without unacceptable performance loss and overflight of populated land areas during launch. This year we will complete all design criteria, support

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quipment specifications and initial design work necessary to support start of facility construction in FY 1979.

The facility will be ready

to support Shuttle flights beginning in June 1983.

For launches from Kennedy Space Center, payload ground pro

cessing and flight control procedures have been defined. Work will continu in FY 1979 on payload interface documentation, common support hardware, and security provisions. Modifications to Johnson Mission Control Center to protect classified payload data should begin. In addition, we will provide a minimum number of TITAN III vehicles as a backup for launching priority DoD payloads, should the Shuttle be delayed during the early operational period.

b. Other Space Programs

Space Defense, early warning and communications programs are

discussed in Sections VII and VIII-A of this report.

2. Defense Nuclear Agency

(RDT&E: $168.6 Million)

The effects produced by nuclear weapons and the vulnerability of

our weapon systems to them are matters of continuing concern. Thus, the Defense Nuclear Agency carries out a comprehensive research program based on analysis, laboratory experimentation, simulation, and underground nuclear testing to be certain that we have identified and quantified all the important effects. DNA's programs help to insure that in wartime we have the right mix of nuclear weapons delivered in the right way to have the required military effect and, turning the technology in the other direction, help insure that our vital systems have the required survivability against an enemy's weapons. The DNA development and test program covers the whole spectrum of DoD nuclear weapons interests. Major activities in FY 1979 will include development of prototype photon sources

for radiation simulators to replace most underground nuclear tests; a new program on survivability and security of theater nuclear forces, an underground nuclear test to investigate the hardness of Air Force reentry systems, TRIDENT missile components, and satellites; and continuation of close support of the M-X missile system. Programs on theater nuclear warfare and the survivability and security of nuclear forces are discussed in more detail in Section VI.

A major thrust of the DNA program at this time is development of advanced radiation simulators to take the place of most of the nuclear effects testing now done in underground nuclear tests. This work has recently assumed increasing importance as the possibility grows of a complete ban on nuclear testing in the near future. Fortunately, our pulse power development program, which has produced several major facilities in continual use, continues to make very satisfactory progress. We are now planning a Satellite X-Ray Test Facility (SXTF) to be ready in 1983. The SXTF will produce x-rays of an appropriate energy spectrum to produce realistic responses in full-scale satellites. This facility will provide a major advance in our capability to harden our satellites against nuclear attack in space. In the somewhat longer term, we are now quite optimistic about the possibility of providing a laboratory facility capable of exposing complete reentry vehicles to x-ray fluences. Such a facility could replace a substantial fraction of the current DoD underground testing program.

Radio communications with satellites can be seriously degraded

when their propagation path passes through an atmosphere disturbed by a

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