Project SAINT

Project SAINT
SAtellite INTerceptor
A diagram of one of the SAINT project satellites
Project type	Originally Satellite killer, became Satellite inspector.
Funding agency	ARPA
Objective	To make a satellite with anti-satellite capabilities.
Location	Colorado Springs
Project coordinator	NORAD
Budget	Total: 100 million dollars
Duration	c. 1957 – December 1962

Project SAINT (an acronym formed from "SAtellite INTerceptor")^[1][2] was a project undertaken by the United States during the Cold War to develop a means of intercepting, inspecting and destroying Soviet spacecraft. Many details relating to the project are still classified. The order to launch the SAINT could only be given by the NORAD commander-in-chief, and presumably, anyone higher ranked than them.^[3]

Calls for an anti-satellite weapon started days after the launch of Sputnik in 1957, but president Eisenhower was concerned about the militarization of space and limited such work to studies only. These early studies suggested using the existing MIDAS and SAMOS airframes armed with a nuclear weapon. Over time these plans changed to a dedicated interceptor, SAINT, which used a hit-to-kill profile. He faced continued pressure to develop a system, which reached a peak in early 1960 due to repeated US Air Force claims that the Soviets were developing space-based nuclear weapons.

President Kennedy inherited SAINT, and in keeping with his policy of achieving a technical lead over the Soviets, allowed hardware development to begin. By late 1962 the program was already significantly over budget and still far from a testable system. By this time it was clear the Soviets were not developing the claimed space-based warheads and the need for such an expensive system to counter non-weapon spacecraft could not be justified. As a result of advances in countermeasures on Soviet satellites, alongside the development of cheaper anti-satellite methods, the concept was rendered unsuitable.