Soviet Union Doing ‘Star Wars’ Research, Institute Reports

The Soviet Union substantially outpaced the United States in deployment of long-range nuclear warheads in the last three years and is researching “Star Wars” technologies, a prestigious research institute said Friday.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies also said in its 1985-1986 Military Balance publication that the two countries have about the same number of strategic warheads, but that the Soviet warheads have greater total destructive capacity.

Numbers of U.S. strategic warheads increased about 10% during the three-year period, while the Soviet increase was 37%, it said. The report said the United States has 10,174 warheads, compared to 9,268 three years ago, and the Soviets have 9,987, up from about 7,300. Reagan Administration officials say there are about 12,000 strategic warheads on each side.

Soviet Megatonnage Advantage

The Soviets hold an approximate 2.39-1 megatonnage advantage in deployed land- and submarine-based missile warheads, and an estimated 1.6-1 edge when bomber-delivered warheads are included, the report said.

A megaton, the measure of thermonuclear weapons’ power, is equal to the explosive force of a million tons of TNT.

The institute did not discuss in detail the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative to determine if a space-based defense against nuclear missiles is possible, a program also known as “Star Wars.” It did not enter the debate over charges by both sides of possible violations of the 1972 Anti-ballistic Missile treaty.

But the institute said the Soviet Union “is also conducting an active program of research into strategic defense technologies and is upgrading both ballistic-missile and air defenses.”