WASHINGTON, June 14--In a split with the Bush Administration, three influential Republican Senators have proposed a scaled-back version of the anti-missile defense system, known as "Star Wars," that they said would have broader political appeal in Congress.
The three Senators--William S. Cohen of Maine, Richard G. Lugar of Indiana and John Warner of Virginia--become the first ranking Senate Republicans to break with the Administration over space-based weapons, a central tenet of the Star Wars program.
Their alternative would defer the deployment of 1,000 missile-destroying rockets in space, while calling for greater levels of ground-based missile defenses. The Senators thus dashed hopes for unified Republican support of the Administration's request for increased financing of the embattled program.
In a letter and in remarks to President Bush last week, the lawmakers said the space-based component of the program, called Brilliant Pebbles, would probably draw enough opposition in the Senate to doom the entire Strategic Defense Initiative.
"We believe that passage of the Administration's S.D.I. budget request and program in the Senate is highly unlikely in view of the recent action of the House of Representatives," said the letter, dated June 7.
The House last month cut $1.9 billion from Star Wars, stripping Brilliant Pebbles from the overall program. Mr. Bush has threatened to veto the Pentagon's $291 billion budget bill for 1992 if the House's position is sustained.
Critics of the Administration's Star Wars plan contend that deploying the space-based missiles would be a blatant violation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Critics have also questioned the cost and feasibility of the program and whether, in face of lessened tensions with the Soviet Union, it is even needed.
In remarks on the Senate floor, Mr. Cohen said Brilliant Pebbles "has assumed an inappropriate centrality" in the Star Wars debate and opened "a fissure" between lawmakers who might otherwise support a less ambitious ground-based missile defense system.
While the scaled-back plan may draw enough support to get the missile defense program through Congress, there is no guarantee that the Administration would find it acceptable. After meeting with a group of Republican senators last week, President Bush remained noncommittal but asked >Defense Secretary Dick Cheney to look into the matter.
Mr. Cohen said in an interview that the alternative Senate plan would prohibit immediate deployment but would allow continued development and testing of space-based technology, including sensors. The plan would permit future deployment of Brilliant Pebbles, but it has historically been difficult to revive deferred Pentagon weapons systems, particularly in times of severe budget constraints.
A spokesman for the Star Wars program declined to comment on the Republican proposal.
Aside from their objections to deploying space-based weaponry, the Republican lawmakers' proposal follows the Administration's Star Wars plan fairly closely.
The Republican proposal calls for an advanced anti-missile system--an improved version of the Patriot system used against Iraqi Scud missiles in the Persian Gulf war. In their letter, the three lawmakers also urged Mr. Bush to negotiate with the Soviet Union to allow many more ground-based missile defenses in the United States against the longer-range missiles currently allowed under the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
Under a detailed outline of the plan, drafted largely by Mr. Warner, the Senators envision up to 1,200 ground-based missile launchers at 7 sites. The A.B.M. treaty allows 100 launchers one site.
In his Senate remarks, Mr. Cohen said that treaty modifications were necessary to counter potential threats from accidental, limited or unauthorized attacks by the Soviet Union, or a number of third world nations that are seeking to develop long-range ballistic missiles.
Some Senate Democrats, including Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, have hailed the Republican proposal as a constructive first step toward hammering out a missile defense system with bipartisan support.
Arms control advocates reacted cautiously to the Republican proposal. "Once you start on the process of treaty erosion, you get on slippery and steep slope," said John E. Pike, director of space policy for the Federation of American Scientists, an arms control group here.
(article accompanied by photograph of William S. Cohen, now U.S. Defense Secretary, captioned:
(text of June 16, 1991 New York Times article)