Abstract
Every military weapon, it seems, has an anti-weapon defense. Swords versus shields; tanks versus tank traps, poison gas versus gas masks; and so on. Anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defensive weapons are important for several reasons. The connection between offensive missiles and defensive technologies played a role in the nuclear-weapons debate with the former Soviet Union. As long as the US has some ABM prowess, Russia has been less cooperative on strategic arms treaties. The US spends considerable funds, some $10 billion per year on ABM research and deployment.
… to make nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.
[President Ronald Reagan, March 23, 1983]
“Then we can gang up twenty of them, and we can send out 100-mJ pulse, 20 times per second, and hit any target we want. The impact energy then will be on the order of 20–30 kg of explosives.”
“And that will kill any missile anybody can make.”
“Yes sir.” Major Gregory smiled.
“What you’re telling me is, the thing––tea clipper––works.”
“We validated the system architecture,” the general corrected Ryan. “It’s been a long haul since we started looking at this system. Five years ago there were eleven hurdles. There are three technical hurdles left. Five years from now there won’t be any. Then we can start building it.”
“The strategic implications…” Ryan said, and stopped. “Jesus.”
“It’s going to change the world,” the General agreed.
[Tom Clancy, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, 1989]
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Notes
- 1.
D. Hafemeister, “Review of Star Wars Enigma” by N. Hey, J. Cold War Studies 10(2), 141–143 (2008).
- 2.
Wilkening (2012).
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Hafemeister, D. (2016). Ballistic Missile Defense. In: Nuclear Proliferation and Terrorism in the Post-9/11 World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25367-1_5
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