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Pentagon will seek new emphasis on laser weapons

United Press International - March 21, 2000 19:01

By PAUL SINGER

WASHINGTON, March 22 (UPI) -- The Pentagon is preparing to issue a report calling for a major investment in lasers and other "directed-energy" weapons, according to Defense Department officials.

The overdue report, requested last year by Congress, is going through final clearance procedures at the Pentagon, and is likely to be issued in the next week or so, a military spokesman said.

Delores Etter, deputy director of the Pentagon's Defense Research and Engineering program, discussed the report in her testimony Tuesday before a Senate Armed Services subcommittee.

Etter said the report "makes a very strong case . . . that the time is very ripe for directed energy systems."

The department has "made some breakthroughs" with the technology, Etter said, and the report "takes a strong stand that this is one of those potentially revolutionary capabilities" that could fundamentally change weapons technology.

According to Etter, the report will "make recommendations not only for an investment strategy" but will also recommend an "overall management plan" for coordinating work on the weapons, and a plan for "addressing science and technology needs" for developing the weapons.

Several senators spoke at the hearing about the importance of ensuring coordination in weapons research. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., argued that the various military services, which generally pursue their own procurement agendas, need to "spend more time on things that are inherently 'joint,''' so as to reduce duplication and waste of resources. Ashton Carter, a defense expert testifying before the subcommittee, pointed out that there is no single overarching procurement entity within the Pentagon, and agreed that coordination of research and development will be a benefit.

Nevertheless, a Defense Department spokesman said that the Pentagon is unlikely to take management of various directed-energy weapons development programs away from the services that are running them. The new report will call for coordination of those efforts, and for "development of a master plan for laser weapons," this source said. But development of specific systems "may be retained within the services," this source said. For instance, the Air Force will still take the lead on development of an air-based laser weapon.

The Defense Department is also placing a major emphasis on addressing cyber-security issues, officials told the panel. Under Secretary of Defense Jacques Gansler said Tuesday, "If I were to select the most critical 1/8research and development 3/8 need today, it is in software tools and management techniques. Almost every system we develop involves the dominant use of software, and many of the problems we face stem from software issues."

Etter seconded Gansler's concern, adding that her department "recently decided to put $10 million of our basic research 1/8funding 3/8 into software engineering research."

Asked by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., whether the use of foreign software in U.S. computers posed a security concern, Etter said "that is a very real threat," particularly for private industry computer systems, which are more likely than government computers to use foreign-built components or software. Addressing this concern is part of the Pentagon's new initiative, Etter said.

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