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This is an archive article published on January 4, 1998

US working on new arms control plan

WASHINGTON, January 3: The United States is working on a new arms control plan that would create an international clearing house for laser t...

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WASHINGTON, January 3: The United States is working on a new arms control plan that would create an international clearing house for laser tests in space, according to media reports.

The purpose of the clearing house would be to prevent damage to sensitive American communications and spy satellites, The Washington Times, quoting White House and Pentagon officials, said yesterday.

Robert Bell, National Security Council Arms Control specialist, said that the clearing house, if set up, would be modelled after a similar forum now run by the US Space Command in Colorado. The forum coordinates all US military

and civilian scientific tests involving lasers aimed above the horizon that could reach satellites.

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Pentagon officials said that they believed the arms proposal on lasers was linked to a letter sent to President Bill Clinton in September by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, opposing US anti-satellite efforts.

Yeltsin, in his letter, reportedly said that he was "alarmed" by the US efforts to "develop a whole gamut of anti-satellite weapons". Washington, however, denied this later, saying that the laser test conducted in October was solely to determine satellite vulnerablities.

Satellites are a key element of the US military’s war-fighting concept of "information dominance" over a battlefield, especially as disrupting space sensors would seriously weaken US military power.

The problem of laser energy damaging satellites was highlighted when Pentagon carried out a test involving two lasers against an aging air force satellite on October 17. A one million megawatt Mid-Infra Red Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRCL) was fired into space from the Army’s White Sands, New Mexico, missile range.

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The high-powered beam from the MIRCL illuminated the satellite but then malfunctioned. A very low-powered 30-watt laser was used after that. The damage caused by the small laser alarmed many Pentagon and military officials as it showed that even low-powered lasers could damage space sensors after only a short exposure.

Later, in discussions with Russian officials in Washington, the United States suggested sharing information on laser tests to avoid unintended laser strikes on satellites and other objects in orbit. Once the clearing house for laser tests is set up, Russian laser operators can be sure that their lasers will not inadvertently interfere and possibly damage any satellite or other space objects.

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