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RUSSIANS CLAIM COMPUTER KNOWLEDGE by Malcolm W. Browne

Article in New York Times, February 16, 1988

Boston, Feb. 15 - Senior Soviet scientists asserted today that they have no need
to steal computer secrets for military applications because the level of computer
science in their country is already high.

They conceded that computer production in the Soviet Union lagged badly behind
that of other advanced nations, including Taiwan.  But for such military
applications as making submarines quieter and harder to detect, the scientists
said, Soviet computer technology is already self-sufficient.

The Soviet claim to mastery of many aspects of computer technology was made during
a five-day meeting here of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Fourteen leaders of major Soviet research institutions were among the 5,500
scientists there.

VIBRATION AND SUBMARINES

Soviet presentations at the specialized sessions covered many fields of research,
including the investigation of high-temperature superconductivity, the production
of pharmaceuticals using genetically engineered organisms, and planetary
exploration.  But the leader of the delegation, Dr. Konstantin V. Frolov,
focused on Soviet studies of mechanical vibration - a subject of preeminent
importance for nuclear submarines.

Last year United States officials accused companies in Japan and Norway, the
Toshiba Corporation and Kongsberg Vaapensfabrikk, of selling advanced computer-
controlled milling machinery to the Soviet Union.  The Defense Department
charged that this had resulted in a new generation of much quieter Soviet
submarine propellers, making submarines carrying ballistic missiles much harder
to detect, particularly in the noisy Arctic seas they frequently patrol.

American defense experts have said that although Soviet military engineers
have the technical understanding needed for computer-controlled manufacturing
operations, their machinery and software was not reliable and flexible enough.

In his presentation to the scientists' meeting, Dr. Frolov pointedly displayed
photographs of Soviet-built computer-controlled milling machinery.  He also
presented detailed schematic drawings of a variety of computer-controlled systems
for damping the vibration and noise created by machinery and bearings.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY SUGGESTED

Dr. Frolov himself declined to discuss the implications of what he presented.
But another senior member of the delegation, Dr. Andrei A. Kokoshin, said in an
interview that these systems and devices implied Soviet self-sufficiency in
the technology used for advanced submarine designs.

Dr. Kokoshin, deputy director of the politically powerful Soviet Institute
for USA and Canada Studies, is a chief technical expert on arms-limitation
issues.

"In the first place," he said, "Washington's assertion that we had to buy
foreigh equipment to make quiet submarine propellers is merely a red herring.
You can see from the equipment Dr. Frolov has described at this meeting that
we know how to use computer control for milling extremely smooth, accurate
surfaces of the kind needed for propellers."

'AHEAD OF THE WEST'

When asked about this, Dr. Kokoshin replied with a shrug: "We see these assertions
as excuses to avoid cooperating with us in technical matters, and I doubt that 
most American scientists agree with that point of view."

"There are important areas in computer science in which American and Soviet experts
could collaborate.  Americans make fine computers, but Soviet mathematicians are
the best in the world.  A marriage of these two areas of expertise would benefit
both of us."

"Moreover," Dr. Kokoshim said, "Soviet software development is already very
advanced in some areas - significantly ahead of the West.  Our computer modeling
of ocean systems, for example, has become extremely sophisticated.  Even in the 
area of arms control we are devising increasingly useful and predictive  computer
simulations that will serve the cause of preventing war.  We are already
cooperating with American counterparts in some of this work, and it would
benefit both of us to increase cooperation."