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OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 14 00050109D 

April 11, 1969 

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE 

SUBJECT: MOL and HEXAGON 

Mr. Kissinger 

April 9, 1969, and 

HEXAGON programs. 

tentatively agreed 

and a reduction of 

to $360M. 

and Mr. Mayo met with the President on 

recommended termination of the MOL and 

Mr. Mayo has reported •that the President 

to cancellation of the HEXAGON program 

the FY 70 budget for the MOL from $525M 

The MOL is a manned photo reconnaissance satellite 

development program with a first manned launch in the middle 

of 1972, intended to provide very high resolution photographs 

of targets of high interest in :enled areas. It will produce 

a best resolution of about I whereas the unmanned 

GAMBIT-3 s[otting camera satell=te system can be improved to 

give about lat best. This MOL higher resolution 

will provide many critical fine details which will allow us 

to determine a number of performance characteristics of 

emerging weapons systems well in advance of test demonstrations. This capability should be of considerable value in 

any arms control limitation. · 

In FY 69 and prior years $1.2B has been spent. The 

present FY 70 budget is $525M. The total development, 

including four manned launches, is $2.9B. 

By Monday we will have assessed the impact of a possible 

reduction in FY 70 to $360M. It would introduce approximately a one year delay into the schedule of first flight and 

increase the total cost of the program by $300M or more. It 

would seriously impact the industrial base we haye established. 

The issue of HEXAGON termination has been a subject of 

debate for a considerable length of time. BOB states that 

the additional intelligence information provided by HEXAGON 

photography is not sufficient to justify its significant cost. 

DOD and CIA have consistently supported the program as 

justified by the value of improved intelligence collection. 

HEXAGON CORONA .GAMBIT DORIAN tUNDt[ VIA 

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HEXAGON, starting in late 1970, will provide signifi- cantly better coverage than available today! 

a. It will provide a beet resolution of 2,5 feet, 

whereas the present .CORONA search system offers a best . ., :resolution of 1 feet. The HEXAGON covers 4 to 8 times more 

area than the CORONA. 

b, It will frequently cover specified small areas· 

(surveillance) at high quality. This type of photography is 

-now obtained by our spotting system, GAMBIT, which has higher ~. resolution than HEXAGON but views much smaller areas. 

, · If we do not develop HEXAGON and if we maintain our 

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current level of coverage, then we will need six CORONA and· , five GAMBIT launches per year to achieve a coverage comparable to that achieved today. If we replace CORONA with 

HEXAGON, then we plan four HEXAGON and four GAMBIT launches 

per year. 

The current inventory of 13 CORONA search systems is 

planned to be launched at a rate of one each two months. 

Since the lead time fp:r delivery of additional CORONA 

vehicles is estimated to be 24 to 26 months, we would need 

to order additional CORONAs soon if HEXAGON is to be discontinued. 

'raking all these factors into account, photo reconnaisea.nee costs would be as followen, 

($ in millions) 

FY 69 & 

FY 68 FY 70 FY 71 FY 72 FY 73 

Continue HEXAGON 889 376 357 327 293 

cancel HEXAGON 887 282 257 242 232 

Savings 2 94 100 85 61 

BOB ascribes cost savings to HEXAGON termination which 

do not agree with these assessments. BOB stated that five 

year saving~ would be obtained in the future of $905M, whereas 

the actual savings in the same context as discussed by BOB 

would be between $285M and $400M, our assessments of future 

cost~ -re considered re~sonably accurateo Cost increases due 

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to unprogrammed changes may of course still occur. Although 

the development is not yet to the stage Where we can define ~ crists with complete accuracy, we do nat expect major program , , slippage or major increased costs. 

Within the NRO, the CIA manages the sensor system, and 

the Air Force directs the overall system. The principal 

contractors are Perkin-Elmer for the optical sensor and 

Lockheed for the basic spacecraft and overall integration. 

The development of the HEXAGON system has progressed satisfactorily since program start in March 1967. If the program 

is terminated on April 15, 1969, about $450M will have been 

obligated. Since we believe that the major developmental 

tasks are proceeding according to plan, there is confidence 

in the development program. 

The Director of Central Intelligence and the USIB have 

consistently and strongly supported the need for HEXAGON. 

Within DOD, we believe that HEXAGON will significantly 

improve our intellige~ce in three ways: 

a. It will improve our ability to search more 

thoroughly the Soviet Union and China for new activity. 

The HEXAGON resolution, compared with CORONA 1 allows detection.and identification of many significant objects such as 

trucks, radars, and artillery pieces. 

b. It will significantly improve our intelligence 

on ground ,forces, including faster and better intelligence on 

force readiness, redeployment of Soviet and Chinese forces, 

and force deployment in crisis areas such as the Middle East 

and the Indian-China border~ 

c. It should help us to discover and count mobile 

forces includ~ng ICBM 1 s, IRBM's• and tactical offensive and · defensive missiles. 

In addition, CIA emphasizes the value of HEXAGON in policing 

arms control agreement~. 

BOB feels that our current collection capability is 

adequate now. Major improvements are'programmed in SIGINT 

and COMlNT collection ,,'fhfl_e photographic systems have show~ ;Ii, .. 

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steady improv~ment in efficiency and quality. Therefore, 

BOB feels .the in~:remental intelligence value. added b'y HEXAGON does not justify the tldded cost while DOD and CIA 

strongly support the program. 

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