Mar 4 1974
From The Space Library
Dr. James B. Schlesinger, Secretary of Defense, said in his annual Defense Posture Statement submitted to Congress that the U.S. would not insist on strict numerical missile equality with the U.S.S.R. in a future arms agreement. Rather, he wanted an "essential equivalence" in a diversified strategic force "to make available to the President a reasonable range of strategic options as USSR and PRC capabilities evolve." The U.S. might be willing to agree to a reduction of its land-based missile force within an overall balance.
Dr. Schlesinger also said he had directed the Navy to concentrate on smaller aircraft carriers rather than the large, $1-billion, nuclear-powered ships. He argued that four nuclear-powered carriers-one already in operation and three under construction-would meet "high-threat" needs but were not needed for the usual "low-threat situations." The carrier fleet was to remain at 15 ships through FY 1975 and be reduced by 1980 to 12 large carriers including the 4 nuclear vessels. (Text; Finney, NYT, 4 March 74, 14; 5 March 74, 7)
Selection of the official emblem of the joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Apollo Soyuz Test Project mission, scheduled for July 1975, was announced by NASA and the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The circular emblem displayed the English word "Apollo" and the Russian "Soyuz" around a center disc depicting the two spacecraft docked in earth orbit. (NASA Release 74 49)
Widespread material and component shortages-increased by the oil embargo imposed by oil producing countries during the October 1972 Middle East war-were causing severe problems for the aerospace industry, Aviation Week & Space Technology reported. Suppliers found it easier and more profitable to supply material such as aluminum to non-aerospace industry, which placed quantity orders without specific dead-lines and rigid specifications. Government price controls had encouraged some suppliers to halt production or divert supplies to export markets, where profits could be two to three times above the domestic.
A Hughes Aircraft Co. survey showed that reasons for shortages included a diminished supply of petrochemicals, which were the basis of most plastics and synthetic rubbers, and the curtailed production of materials requiring large amounts of energy for fabrication. (Av Wk, 4 March 74, 12-13)
Prof. Mikhail Tikhonravov, Soviet rocket pioneer, died in Moscow at the age of 73. Prof. Tikhonravov had worked on the development of the first man-made satellites, pilot-operated spacecraft, and automatic space stations. With Sergey P. Korolev, he had worked on development of early liquid-fuel rockets in the 1930s. He had been an early expert in glider and aircraft engineering. Tikhonravov had been awarded the Orders of Lenin and the Red Banner of Labor, the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, and the Lenin Prize. (NYT, 7 March 74, 40; Av Wk, 11 March 74)
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