Ballistic Missile Defense: Information on Directed Energy Programs for Fiscal Years 1985 Through 1993
Abstract
Since 1985, the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) has been developing technologies for directed energy weapons-lasers and particle beams. (On May 13,1993, the Secretary of Defense changed the name of the Strategic Defense Initiative program and office to Ballistic Missile Defense.) Prior to 1985, other Department of Defense agencies and services had been developing the technologies. It was believed they could be the most effective means of defeating the evolving Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile threat that included thousands of nuclear warheads and decoys. The priority of SDIO's directed energy weapon research and development programs decreased following the breakup of the former Soviet Union in 1990 and the 1991 refocusing of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) by President Bush. In 1992, the Congress directed that far-term technology programs (such as directed energy) be transferred from SDIO to the Advanced Research Projects Agency or the appropriate military department unless national security interests dictated their retention. The Chairman, Legislation and National Security Subcommittee, House Committee on Government Operations, asked GAO to assist the Congress in evaluating the Department of Defense's recommendations for transferring or retaining management responsibility for directed energy technologies in SDIO and in determining the future direction of directed energy development. GAO was asked to provide information on the funding of the directed energy programs to date, the development status of the technologies, and the additional funding that would be needed for further development of the technologies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA344918
Entities
People
- C. A. Walter
- J. K. Spencer
- T. B. Baird
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office