Cost Projection for ‘Star Wars’ Is Slashed 20%

WASHINGTON — Projected costs of building and putting a “Star Wars” missile-defense system in space have been cut 20% because of recent technological advancements, the Pentagon announced Friday.

“Technical progress and an evolving architecture for the space-based portion of Phase I now permit projected cost figures near $55 billion” in fiscal 1988 dollars, the Pentagon office for the Strategic Defense Initiative reported.

SDI officials in June, 1988, estimated the cost of a Phase I missile-defense system to be $115 billion. The estimate was reduced to $69 billion in October, 1988, based on “significant technology advancements,” the SDI office said.

The military’s announcement of the new, lower estimate of $55 billion comes about two weeks after President Bush asked Congress to provide $4.5 billion for the SDI research and development program in fiscal 1991.

Bush’s request is nearly $1 billion more than Congress appropriated for the program this year, and lawmakers are expected to balk at the new figure. Congress routinely has cut the SDI request by up to $1 billion a year.

Administration officials have argued that, despite better U.S.-Soviet relations, the system will be needed to protect the United States against ballistic missile attacks from Third World nations or from an accidental launching.