(Estimated Pub Date) Takes 1 & 2--FOREIGN Press Note--Fb Pn 91-003---USSR

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

UNCLAS /LD PMU

LIGHTS WERE OBSERVED IN THE SKY, MOVING AS IF THEY WERE FIXED IN POSITION IN RELATION TO EACH OTHER, LIKE THE SIDE LIGHTS OF AN AIRPLANE. BUT THIS WAS NOT AN AIRPLANE. WE HAVE WRITTEN TESTIMONY FROM EYEWITNESSES AND PHOTOGRAPHS. SOME OBSERVERS WERE EVEN CONVINCED THAT THE SPEED OF THE OBJECT DEPENDED ON THE FREQUENCY OF THE PULSATION OF THE LIGHTS.' TRETYAK NOTED THAT ALTHOUGH THE OBJECT COULD BE OBSERVED ON A RADAR SCREEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED, IT COULD NOT BE REGISTERED BY ON-BOARD RADAR RECORDING EQUIPMENT. HE EXPLAINED THAT THE ''THREE SIGNALS WHICH COME IN FROM A TARGET -- THE RADAR SIGNAL, THE OPTICAL SIGNAL, AND THE THERMAL SIGNAL -- ALL SHOW UP ON THE SCREEN OF THE SIGHT. IT IS AS IF THEY DUPLICATE EACH OTHER, BUT THE RECORDING DEVICE REGISTERS ONLY THE RADAR SIGNAL. AND, IN THIS 2 MARCH CASE, THERE WAS NONE.' TRETYAK SAID HE BELIEVES THAT THE UFO CANNOT BE RECORDED ON RADAR BECAUSE IT IS NOT AN ORDINARY FLYING MACHINE WHICH CAN BE RECORDED ON THE RELATIVELY NARROW BAND ON WHICH AIR DEFENSE FORCES RADARS OPERATE.

TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS WILL MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO WIDEN THE CAPABILITY OF RADARS TO COUNTERACT ''STEALTH'' FEATURES, TRETYAK SAID: ''IT IS KNOWN, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT THERE ARE A NUMBER OF MATERIALS AND SHAPES WHICH SHARPLY LOWER THE RADAR AND OPTICAL PROFILE OF AN OBJECT... THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT IS BEING ACHIEVED IN THE AMERICAN 'STEALTH' PROGRAM... I ADMIT THAT THE MEASURES AIMED AT COUNTERING THIS PROGRAM, WHICH WE ARE NOW TAKING, WILL SIMULTANEOUSLY PROMOTE THE SOLUTION OF THE UFO RIDDLE.'' TRETYAK SUGGESTED THAT ''IF SPECIAL OBSERVATION POSTS WERE ORGANIZED AND THE FREQUENCIES ON WHICH RADARS OPERATE WERE EXPANDED...WE MOST LIKELY WOULD SEE MORE. FOR THIS, HOWEVER, VERY GREAT RESOURCES ARE NECESSARY. THE GROUND RADARS OF THE AIR DEFENSE FORCES ALSO DID NOT RECORD THE UFO TARGET.''

WHEN ASKED WHY HE, AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AIR DEFENSE FORCES, DID NOT ORDER THE UFO SHOT DOWN, PARTICULARLY SINCE HIS PREDECESSOR IN THE POST OF COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, AS WELL AS THE MINISTER OF DEFENSE, HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM THEIR POSITIONS WHEN THEY WERE UNABLE TO PREVENT A 'FLIGHT OVER OUR TERRITORY AND A LANDING IN MOSCOW OF THE INOFFENSIVE SPORTS PLANE THAT WAS FLOWN BY RUST,' 'TRETYAK POINTED OUT THAT THE UFOS ENCOUNTERED THUS FAR BY HIS PILOTS HAVE APPEARED TO POSE NO EXTRATERRESTRIAL THREAT AND THAT THERE IS STILL NO PROOF THE UFOS ARE OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORIGIN OR FLOWN BY INTELLIGENT BEINGS. MOREOVER, HE WARNED, IT WOULD BE FOOLHARDY TO LAUNCH AN UNPROVOKED ATTACK AGAINST AN OBJECT THAT MAY POSSESS FORMIDABLE CAPACITIES FOR RETALIATION. HE SAID THAT EVEN IF IT IS PROVEN SOME OF THE UFOS ARE 'A PRODUCT OF A HIGHLY ORGANIZED INTELLIGENCE FROM A SIGNIFICANTLY MORE DEVELOPED CIVILIZATION THAN OUR OWN...ANY FIGHT WITH SUCH OBJECTS AND THEIR CREWS -- BEFORE A CLARIFICATION OF THEIR INTENTIONS -- WOULD BE FUTILE...'

(MORE)

0653Z JAN

BT

#9753

NNNN

NNN