A new presidential directive to replace a 1996 policy that emphasized a more pacific use of space is expected within weeks, said an unidentified senior administration official.

Although the directive is in draft form and undergoing final review, White House officials, said the daily, would not disclose any details.

Air Force spokeswoman Karen Finn said "the focus of the process is not putting weapons in space... The focus is having free access in space."

The officials stressed that the aim of the directive was not to place weapons permanently in orbit - which is banned under the 30-year-old Antiballistic Missile Treaty the US withdrew from in 2002 - but to use space as a platform for weapons systems currently being developed.

The daily mentioned Air Force programs such as Global Strike, calling for a military space plane carrying precision-guided weapons that could strike from halfway around the world in 45 minutes.

The 'Rods From God' program aims to launch cylinders of tungsten, titanium or uranium from space to strike targets on the ground at speeds of about 11,500 kilometers per hour (7,200 miles per hour) with the force of a small nuclear weapon.

Other programs call for bouncing lethal laser beams off orbiting mirrors or high-altitude blimps, or turning radio waves into heat weapons - in April the Air Force launched an experimental XSS-11 microsatellite able to disrupt reconnaissance and communications satellites.

The national security directive under consideration, said The New York Times, reflects three years of work prompted by a 2001 report from a commission headed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recommending that the military "ensure that the president will have the option to deploy weapons in space."

The Air Force's determination to field space weapons has also been accelerated by its failure to build an earth-based missile defense system after 22 years and nearly 100 billion dollars, Pentagon officials said.

However, in addition to the technical difficulties of developing reliable space weapons and the strong opposition they will elicit among US allies, experts said, the major hurdle to getting the new initiative off the ground will be getting Congress to approve its enormous price tag, which is tentatively estimated at between 220 billion and one trillion dollars.

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