'j .' 

.. , _.w~~mttH--- KEnlOLE CONTROL SYSTEMS 

• FEB 121969 

NRO APPROVED FOR RELEASE 

DECLASSIFIED BY: CIIART . .1 .... .'. • •• 

DECLASSIFIED ON: 1 OCTOBER 2012 There is a major prooram. aho·ice to be made Jon Q~d·er to 

assure the optimum U.S. photo9rap~ic satellite reconnais·san·ce 

... J 

. program at the. least possible cost while at tbe·same time' 

preserving the greatest option for futu1:'e improvement ~y.the 

introduction of new types of systems. in the ~.'veral.1 progra,!ll. 

The U.S. photographic reconnaissanee prog:ram noW., .. in:clu~es 

two types of systems with overlapping capabilities.. These. are: 

a·round 

GrQUI1d Swath . Mission 

;,' . 88801\1;1;10& . W!d.th Life . (tn.. or tt.) (n .m! • ) (Days). 

1. Spotting camera systems which have 

high resolution for surveillance 

of specified targets: 

- currently operational: 

.(G-3) to 3' 5 14-18 ~ 

Q.Q~er development:'Manned 

:i," , ital Laborato (MOL) 

',f rst launch December 1970') .9 .30 

2. Panoramic came~a systems which have 

lower resolution for searching 

wide areas: 

- currently operational: CORONA 6' to 10' 130 18"';20 

- under development: HEXAGON 

(first launch October 1970) . 2.7' to 8'* 285 30-45 

* Estimated mission environment. 

,,: ... ,: 

The best resolution of the HEXAGON overlaps the poorest capability of the GAMBIT-3. However, even after the HEXAGON 

is operational (latel970), there will still be a need for at 

least 4 and possibly 5 GAMBIT-3 satellites each year due to' 

its very high resolution for surveillance. 

All of these systems are orbiting film recove£Y systems, which have an inherent delay of several days between a com- ' 

mand to take pictures and the delivery of the·results to the 

decision-maker. The delay is longer if a satellite is not on 

orbit and has to be launched. A system with the, capability to. 

be on orbit continuously and to transmit electronically high. 

quality pictures (2-3 foot resolution) to the ground is technically within reach in 3 to 4 years. This is sometimes called 

a "real-time readouttl_!ystem (although this system also has . some delay). . . . 

HANDLE VIA BYEMAN-TALENT-

.KEYHOLE CONTROL SYSTEMS . : nYE:~/!L~d-~-J;! '.; .. :. ~,,; ..!,.A- . - " . . , - ... " t 

.... '._,,,,,._ .... , ........................ ~"' ......... , ... " .. , ....... - .. ~,.~ .. "'~"''''~--,,,... ... ''' ...... ~. o"';"';"""'--~"''''''''''''~~~~.!I!"'',l!'1tJ,f!~~~.#,._.a . .i.!?\V.,'',,J_lt3{~~ ...... ,· . 
NRO APPROVED·FOR RELEASE·· 

DECL4\SSIFIED BY: C/IART . -'.: -.' . 

DECLASSIFIED ON: l' OCTOBER"201·2 . :.. . • ;I·~.! .' •• • • I .. ~ ••.. 

. " 

bcom.Qeciston 

BEXAGOM 

GAMBIT-3 

' . ',~: -... : 

Alternative 

CORONA 

GAMBI'l'-3 "'''''''4 

Total Savings (incl1l~b\9' 

py1968an~ 

savings Of_' 

, '.' . e. .••• 

CONTROL S~STEMS • 

• 

There is noqu,estiori tba,:,:a,search-: . " satell 

2 

mix with HEXAGON would' .. :prOYide· .c;I'r."a1:er ~apabfl'fty than., the' 

present combination' of CORONA' '(:-"41$) aiid· GAMBIT-3 (G-ll # 

particularly forsaarch p1.lrpose:~.,:" Fot' t3urve~llance PuZ;PQ'I.':e's 

there is no clear need for' th~ .'HSXAGON(" given·, the high present 

and even higher future ca'pabilitYQf ,'th.,e GAMBIT-3 to meet "'surveillance requirements. The, i,!;sUe, ): .. s wheth:er the ad'd'ii:ia:na'l 

capability and the res.ulting additi9nal'.,~nte_' " proauct of a mix with HEXAGON~rmnt at 'least more in 

the FY 1970 budgetand_niore in t~e per 0 ,·mugh , FY 19.74. The relevant arguments are' set forth below. 

Value of HEXAGON against ground ..force' targets.; The DDR&E 

.staff paper states that the. present ana, improv,ed sampling cap":,,. 

ability of the GAMBIT-3/CO,aoNA combination is' adequate to meet' 

our intelligence needs in the area of the Soviet bloc and 

Chinese capabilities for air and missile defense, aircraft;; 

systems, missile systems, and naval fo~ces (page 5, '.par 8~ 

SYE-784l6/68). The issue has nax:rowedto the .u~ique capability 

of the HEXAGON against qround targets an d the adequacy of present 

sampling techniques against such 'targets,' both static and mobile. 

Pertinent points are: 

- At present, the la-day G-3 is meeting 95-97 

percent of ground forces target looks required annually and quarterly (USIB D-46.9/l6). If 

the target deck increases or the present sampling rate is raised, th~ longer-life (18 day) . G-3 will be able to meet such demands. (TAB A) •. 

HANDLE VIA BYEMAN-TALENTKEYHOLE CONTROL SYSTEMS TOP S.LS~ET', ,. · oti .".~.. .... ; -... 

~ .. .. ... 
.N 

DECLASSIFiED BY: C/IART 

. 'DECLAS~IFIED ON: 1 OCTO~ER • 

: . 

.' •• ~:..:,,:::: "I 

. , 

' .. 

SIGIN'!' and HUMZll'J.' provi:a~', :"-d.. ,Ql' ~~~tt~tt~~t;y 

tiJQes betterin·fQ·r1natioll'_l~· ~~l~T,:·~f~(.;:I'U·t1lq f-Clr<lre 

especially tr~inin9, 

.manning levels, and deplo~ment;t:" 

- T'here is a il!li!enalt. in the rea~,~e.ci· ~o.·unt of hi9heS.'t 

resolution de:sign):'surve111ance coverage 

due to the au s u on of tne-lSEXAGON ,for some of 

the GAMBIT-3 missions. 

Timeliness in c,risis managem.nt ~ Neither, mix has a 

decided advantage in terms of timeliness for crisis'manage~ 

mente . ther and film recovery. 

During' crisis, targets were pho- toqraphed recovery and readout were too 

late. 

The annual days-on-orbit for the two mixes would be about 

the same. The normal time between launches would be shorter 

for the CORONA mix than for the HEXAGON mix. 

HANDLE VIA BYEMAN-TALENT;-

XEYHOLE CONTROL SYSTEMS 

.. 

-,,' , .. 

. .",.-: 
. . NRO APPROVED FOR RELEAS •. · .: .' .' 

.' DECLASSIFIED BY: C/IART' ~ ... '.<::: •..... 

: DECLASSIFIED .ON': 1 OCTOBER.01·2:.~:'.:;:;;- (.;~:;,(., 

.' ,,!:"; ~ .' . . : •. ',~. :. 

'. ' . For '9r1;a'~a ··~~~~:i~~;:",.~:.,-!G~;.J).[{~J(Et~,.~ .. ,j 

to maintal.n a8tq~y~~~·:: 'w .. ,to ,~ tb~~.~'i';;;l_'·~._ 

·Q)ROBA... .. >':/::;'!" ,:,'.<~,:., .. ,.: ;":.' 

(Por results on an aO'l:t:tal re-omtt':ttlt$e.fOn~ see me B.).-::;~ ... 

. • ~~I!' •. d?·.~~1~·~~~e$; ('lAB C) " 

1nd1Cfai1e that.. t'he.co~st· .. d~tfe.l:.~;· (·say.m,g:s-) b~tween', tb-e Bxecu-

!~ie=---~~~~~~and~~~on is 

Py 1914.lIiJII!III!fference in costs between ~t1mate and 

earlier BOB savings estimates' - in. FY 1970an(S_ 

through W 197-4) is that NRO c~ .. n: a.$sumed a h~ 

number (7) ofannualG-3 l"unehes in the Ft 1970-197.4 period 

than the earliexo ~'stimate t6)'})y the ~B. .~. _'~~..;;..~...:;;,;;.;;;;. 

. It is noteworthy that in th.omptroller estimates the \ HEXAGON unit costs increase from assuming 5 launches ann~allY, tolllllll assuming 4 launc es annually. 0 

Equaleo.st options. The NRO Comptroller's estimates for 

Itlevel-offrecurrinq cos.taper year" (FY 1974) for the Executive 

Committee decision program are: 

HEXAGON 

G-3 

Launches 

per year 

4 ) 

4 ) 

Equal cost of CORONA/G-3 mix would be as follows: 

OOltONA 

G-3 

7 ) 

8 ) 

Ann\1al cost 

-

The latter option more than meets requirements with less risk 

of launch failure, more high resolution for techn·ical intelligence, and shorter gaps between search and surveillance missions. 

HANDLE VIA BYEMAN-TALENTKEYHOLE CONTROL SYSTEMS 

.~ .. • to -.. • 

.~I· 

,";' 

.... 

'.'" 
NRC AP.PROVED FOR RELEASE 

DECLASSIFtED BY: C/IART ·rr 

DECLASSIFIED ON: 1 OCTPBER 2012 .. 

JOP. SEBRET 

5 

The 'search area coverage capabilities of these equal cost 

alternative mixes are as follows: ~ ~. 

System 

HEXAGON 

CORONA 

Total 

Launches 

4 

Successful 

Missions(Yr 

3-4 

Area Coverage 

P·er Mission 

20M sq,nm 

Area Coverage . Annually 

': . 

... -.J..-. 

., .... " 

'.' 

7 6-7 . ' 

9 M sq run 

60-eO sq nm 

54-63 sq nm 

Of the total area coverage. the,p~~centage cloud-free· is 

essentially the same for: bOth aystems • . " 

With regard t.o$,~il.laA,e.3ai!et§" eM. pres$nt',,, 'i~d,ay version of the GAfGrf-3 ill:'.e~i)Jg.:g:.2··:p:el"c.ent :6:£ the' qUa~t.rly 

requirements ana, 98 .~:rcent . ()£.:tb. •. tUm"~ .... #.~~4'~_~!i.· ,~U.blished by the tJ'llite4ft.ate., .,;In,t.~*.~~~ee:lJQ:~.·.·' . 'Ilte : ~O.f.~­

life (14-18 day) ve.:rsion 0.£' tJi'e '_It't··3 ~tQ:,!JEfo>~t~~~ea ··in 

:.: 
~~g;~:~~~~~~::~~2-"-~··-._I:~."flil,g It' "IiA~I __ "'~""'-<""" 

fXOW'Kl J'oJjC8 'Janus"""""" I 

CUrnnt CQMlREX hiqh resolution aurnil1ance deck (CCStP). 

6556 total targets 

1964 of wh1c::h are ,:round fGR.. , • . 1466 are tact.t.eal ~. ,fixed tn •• llat.ioDa 

320 major depots and login1_1· AppOa 

41 training area. 

65 ams p.r9duction. It&D 

72 add:1ti.onaJ. mlscellalleOU$ 

)total taF9!ts ! 1« 964) . Annual looks 

Quarterly looks 

fte aumma~ ofaenJi&veme:J;lt •• v .... t9.#oun.i 

requirements in tn&, last two J'.p,q~4 ... _.1; •. • .,. ~.. 

~ 

.. . tile tabl.e hel-ow. OneO'f',tbe ~.*.ons, ~Jia.t '1ie •• ~1J' ... qu.irement·sare not met at lG:",·t •.• 11., ~at:~.I~t •• ,*_;i ee' ~eti ... priorit.y 

forces. 

ass19ned tostrat.91Cl:~anctDa;ta:1'l~s 

. "~' .. ••• ~ 

:-~ 

- !!a~6':~:'-__ ~ .M~ "fOr lJI._ 

- 14ca~egGt;:~.·'.-~.±a::lliv..lUi_l$.a~.·t.~;:~he,.t4QW$ftg. .... _., 

.. ,.2 

\ 
i NRO ~R ~~~~A~'~' .. -·-,·-~_~StCRtT CHESSlWFf':'''~~'-'-'''''''-''''''-_"'''_'d 

I DECLalIIIiII-,NiIART A,., ..... ~ICN tt ..... ,.l ... U AUGml' l. • t DECLASSIFIED ON: 1 OCTO~ER 1011 . .' to " ' 

. .. . 

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t 

I 

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t '. 

I 

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I 

, 

... 

r-~'· ~ Q 

~ 

1 ..... ,' ,.I .# 

....... ;/' 

7" , " " , 
TOP SE6Rrr TAB C 

• 

lY 69 n 69 

Case A: Continue HEXAGON (In ilCtco:tdan'ce' with ·13"B.!(}1f;~.bCOnt.'Jf.e~a_ tiQna) 

HEXAGON: 

Launches 

Costa 

GAMBIT: 

LauD<:hes 

Costs 

CORONA,: :(;J~l ~Jft~ . .'''~3l . . Launettes ' 

CO'st,,$ 

TOPAL.~~S 

case,·,y:,;,~:.·_~~1 

.... <. " 

~'::' .~ .. ii ",.:~~ . 

• ~. "":" •• ' .~. , "$ .. : 

. . . ..