2nd magazine backs claim on antisatellite station

Officially, at least, the Pentagon is unimpressed with a report that the Soviet Union is already operating an orbiting antisatellite battle station, Monitor correspondent Stephen Webbe reports.

The claim, made in the latest number of Aviation Week & Space Technology, received a skeptical response from an Air Force spokesman: ''Based on our information on Soviet space and antisatellite programs, we cannot conclude they have a system as described in the Aviation Week article.''

But Edgar Ulsamer, senior editor of the independent Air Force Magazine, says he cannot in ''any way quarrel'' with the Aviation Week report.