An Approach to Selecting Appropriate Treaty Limits on Laser Antisatellite Weapons S. CHANDRASHEKAR Summary An approach to determining the laser flux and power necessary to damage selected satellite subsystems is presented. An approach like this could be used to determine appropriate performance limits on ABM and ASAT systems in order to protect non combatant satellites as well as those whose missions are stabilizing. Background The question of lasers and other directed energy weapons has become increasingly important after the initiation of the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) (more popularly known as the Star Wars programme) following President Reagan's speech in which he stated his intention to make nuclear weapons ‘impotent and obsolete' [1]. A number of studies have also since been conducted on different aspects of a Ballistic Missile Defence System (BMD) [2-8]. Most of these studies have focussed on ballistic missile defence with little emphasis on the possible use of directed energy weapons for other purposes. The use of such weapons against satellites, as an antisatellite weapon, is a serious possibility that should not be forgotten. The technical requirements for the use of a BMD system in an anti-satellite function are also less stringent than for BMD. The power levels and the tracking and pointing requirements of the weapon to mention only two of the most critical parameters for an anti-satellite function are technologically much easier to realise than that required for a ballistic missile defence system. The orbits of satellites are also predictable and changes in orbits can easily be detected making tracking and pointing easier. It would therefore appear that even an imperfect system for ballistic missile defence that may arise from SDI would be a formidable anti-satellite weapon stationed either in space or on the ground. Some aspects of the use of lasers as an anti-satellite system are studied in this paper. Typical parameters of such laser systems that may have to be limited in any future treaty are also critically examined and some preliminary damage assessment calculations made for some sensitive satellite subsystems. The emphasis in the paper is not so much on the accuracy of the calculations but on the methodology and the factors that have to be taken into account in any future approaches for limiting such systems. S. Chandrashekar, Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO Headquarters, Cauvery Bhavan, Kempegowa Road, Bangalore 56009, India.
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