For more info, visit our FAQ or Terms of Use. Despite the apparent failure of the Cabra test, the long term legacy of the X-ray laser program is the knowledge gained while conducting the research. According to George Shultz, the Secretary of State during Reagans presidency, the meeting with Teller was the first gleam in Ronald Reagans eye of what later became the Strategic Defense Initiative (Shultz 261). The first Red Scare followed the Russian Revolution (1918-19), the second emerged in the post-war and McCarthyist eras (from the late 1940s to the early 1950s). Vietnam War By 1985, SDIO was serving as an umbrella for the 22 think tanks and aerospace firms working on the program (OConnell 76). Notable among these were particle-beam weapons, updated versions of nuclear shaped charges, and various plasma weapons. With SDI, the Europeans feared that the United States would no longer provide this defense. Amongst its terms was a limitation on the number of nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Macmillan was referring to the rising tide of nationalism in Africa, as well as opposition to the South African governments policy of apartheid. President Ronald Reagan announces the Strategic Defense Initiative, March 23, 1983, National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) 12, announced the SDI program in a television address broadcast nationally, As U.S. I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.. Initially, the program focused on large scale systems designed to defeat a massive Soviet offensive strike. There were several attempts to Russify ethnic and national minorities in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. These colonies became self-governing and many were subjected to Cold War pressures and influences. The Relay mirror experiment (RME), launched in February 1990, demonstrated critical technologies for space-based relay mirrors that would be used with an SDI directed-energy weapon system. perestroika Theyre banking on the USSRs fear of SDIin moral, economic, political, and military terms. As Secretary of State Schultz explained, Prior to the presidents speech, even the possibility that the United States might seriously seek to defend itself from nuclear attack seemed outlandish. It was dubbed the Military Marshall Plan. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2005. They put together an all-star panel including many of the inventors of the laser, one of which was a Nobel laureate. Why cant we just lean on the Soviets until they go broke? quipped Reagan (Lazzari 23). nuclear sharing [35][36], In 1979, Teller contributed to a Hoover Institution publication where he claimed that the US would be facing an emboldened USSR due to their work on civil defense. Securitate [75] Detailed studies were undertaken by several advisory boards, including the Defense Science Board and JASON, in 1989. First, the rails guiding the projectile must carry very high power. Mutually assured destruction was a Cold War principle which suggested that a premeditated nuclear attack was unlikely, since both sides knew that the other would retaliate. The Soviet bloc or Eastern bloc refers tocommunist nations in Europe during the Cold War. Soldiers of the Soviet Union and the United States did not do battle directly during the Cold War. The American Physical Society (APS) had been asked by the SDIO to provide a review of the various concepts. McCarran Act [106], George Lucas, Lucasfilm CEO and the creator of Star Wars, sued Reagan for stealing the name based on his franchise. Singing Revolution Unsurprisingly, concerns over MAD and ABM were widespread following the announcement of SDI, even among members of the Reagan administration. The Footnote 1 Cold War (1945-1991) Footnote 2 was a nontraditional conflict between two conflicting ideologiescommunism and democracy. George Shultz, Reagan's secretary of state, suggested that a 1967 lecture by physicist Edward Teller (the so-called "father of the hydrogen bomb") was an important precursor to SDI. [19] The program is currently managed by the Space Development Agency (SDA) as part of the new National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA) envisioned by Michael D. Can you be sure of an impenetrable shield? asked Shultz. Reagan felt that in the event of an attack this would place the president in a terrible position, having to choose between immediate counterattack or attempting to absorb the attack and then maintain an upper hand in the post-attack era. The United States holds a significant advantage in the field of comprehensive advanced missile defense systems through decades of extensive research and testing; a number of these concepts and obtained technologies and insights were transferred to subsequent programs.[5][6][7][8]. Stasi was an abbreviation for the Ministry of State Security, a secret police agency in socialist East Germany. Under BMDO, ERINT was later chosen as the MIM-104 Patriot (Patriot Advanced Capability-3,PAC-3) missile.[48]. [103], A military officer who was involved in covert operations at the time has told journalist Seymour Hersh that much of the publicity about the program was deliberately false and intended to expose Soviet spies:[104]. Once in space, the KKV could extend a folded structure similar to an umbrella skeleton of 4m (13ft) diameter to enhance its effective cross section. The Strategic Defence Initiative was a missile defence program, initiated by the Reagan administration in 1983. In 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall proposed a massive aid program to rebuild Europe after the ravages of World War II. In the end, Polyus failed to reach orbit and quickly broke apart. Publisher: Alpha History photo: Creative Commons / Dipartimento Protezione Civile We dried up and eliminated their access and left the spies withering on the vine Nobody on the Joint Chiefs of Staff ever believed we were going to build Star Wars, but if we could convince the Russians that we could survive a first strike, we win the game. After President Reagans speech, what had seemed outlandish became the agenda for debate (Shultz 261). During this period nuclear fallout and other debris lingers in the atmosphere, blocking out sunlight. All rights reserved. The projectiles experience acceleration force in excess of 100,000g. To be effective, the fired projectile must first survive the mechanical stress of firing and the thermal effects of a trip through the atmosphere at many times the speed of sound before its subsequent impact with the target. Political scientist Kerry L. Hunter explained this phenomenon: The power of Reagans Star Wars visionlay in its utopian characteristics. Though classified at the time, a detailed study on a Soviet space-based LASER system began no later than 1976 as the Skif, a 1 MW Carbon dioxide laser along with the anti-satellite Kaskad, an in-orbit missile platform. For this mission, SDIO concentrated almost entirely on the "high tech" solutions like lasers. The United Nations is a multilateral body, formed in 1945. 128, "Think Tanks and US Military and Diplomatic Affairs", in, K. Tsipis, "Third-Generation Nuclear Weapons,". They were sent to Syrian rebel targets located 1,000 miles from the warships located in the Caspian Sea. Star Wars (see Strategic Defence Initiative). [18] By the early 1990s, with the Cold War ending and nuclear arsenals being rapidly reduced, political support for SDI collapsed. The Soviet predisposition to see deception behind the SDI was reinforced by their assessment of US intentions and capabilities and the utility of military deception in furthering the achievement of political goals. Point Alpha, or Observation Post Alpha, was a US Army lookout in West Germany, close to the border with West Germany. [54], Developed by Lockheed as part of the ground-based interceptor portion of SDI, the Exoatmospheric Reentry-vehicle Interceptor Subsystem (ERIS) began in 1985, with at least two tests occurring in the early 1990s. Final hover testing occurred in 1992 using miniaturized components similar to what would have actually been used in an operational interceptor. Shultzs assessment proved to be correct. Science Advisor George Keyworth argued, I have been asked time and time again one simple question, is it now a good time to attempt a development of a technological solution to making ballistic missiles obsolete? This was part of Canada's role during the Cold War to defend North America against an attack from the Soviet Union. Development was cancelled in 1963. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, usually abbreviated to the Soviet Union, was one of the main protagonists of the Cold War. The concept of a military-industrial complex was mentioned by US president Dwight Eisenhower in his farewell speech in 1961. The CIM-10B Bomarc was the world's first long-range, nuclear capable, ground-to-air anti-aircraft missile. National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. Only the Space Based Laser seemed to have any hope of developing in the short term, but it was growing in size due to its fuel consumption. Sovietisation is a term for the process by which communist governments were installed in eastern European nations after World War II (1945-50). pp.106109, and D. L. Matthews et al., "Demonstration of a Soft X-Ray Amplifier," pp. Its member states have included US, Great Britain, France and West Germany. Secretary of State Alexander Haig recalled, I know the aftermath the next day in the Pentagon, where they were all rushing around saying, What the hell is strategic defense? (OConnell 23). Was it science fiction, a trick to make the Soviet Union more forthcoming, or merely a crude attempt to lull us in order to carry out the mad enterprisethe creation of a shield which would allow a first strike without fear of retaliation? (Gorbachev 407). Features of SDIincluded early warning systems, missile interception systems and research into the use of armed satellites. French President Francois Mitterrand, for example, was very vocal about his concerns regarding SDI: I am opposed to the idea of SDII perceive it as a potential opportunity for a first strike.It is obvious that SDI will not replace nuclear weapons, but will become a substantial addition to the existing arsenals (Gorbachev 429). 1947, President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey Greece and Turkey The immediate crisis that prompted the announcement of the Truman Doctrine was related to the threat of a communist takeover in Berlin Airlift If they're like probably 90% of the population, they don't intend to make any big lifestyle changes or sacrifices to combat whatever climate change is occurring, and that's if it actually is occurring. Date published: September 14, 2018 By 1987, however, Gorbachev agreed that missile reductions and SDI could be negotiated separately. The Announcement On March 23, 1983, President Reagan announced the SDI program in a television address broadcast nationally. The Brussels treaty was a forerunner to the NATO agreement. Early deployment plans were met with little interest, but by the late 1960s, public meetings on the Sentinel system were met by thousands of angry protesters. Team B was an investigative committee established by US president Gerald Ford in 1976. Authors: Jennifer Llewellyn, Jim Southey, Steve Thompson used operationally late in the war, was the system most extensively studied arid emulated by the Soviets. In a speech to the Politburo in March 1986, Gorbachev exclaimed, Maybe we should just stop being afraid of SDI! In 2019, space-based interceptor development resumed for the first time in 25 years with President Trump's signing of the National Defense Authorization Act. The SDI railgun investigation, called the Compact High Energy Capacitor Module Advanced Technology Experiment, had been able to fire two projectiles per day during the initiative. It has been written and compiled by Alpha History authors. A secret police is a state-run police force that investigates, spies on, identifies and eliminates potential opponents. These findings, though later discredited, contributed to the US arms buildup under Ronald Reagan. The unique Cold War-era relic is part of an 11-acre Kansas lot on the market for $380,000. In fact, Secretary of Defense Weinberger had said as much back in 1983: I cant imagine a more destabilizing factor for the world than if the Soviet should acquire a thoroughly reliable defense against these missiles before we did (Rhodes 201). Early prototypes were essentially single-use weapons, requiring complete replacement of the rails after each firing. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (or NATO) Given concerns about the previous programs using nuclear-tipped interceptors, in the 1980s the US Army began studies about the feasibility of hit-to-kill vehicles, i.e. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Strategic_Defense_Initiative&oldid=1139087432, The immediate tactical action to reduce vulnerability, such as, Counter strategies which exploit a weakness of an opposing system, such as adding more. This Cold War site contains articles, perspectives and sources on global events and tensions between 1945 and 1991. The technology developed for the HOE system was later used by the SDI and expanded into the Exoatmospheric Reentry-vehicle Interception System (ERIS) program. did not view SDI as an escalation. It refers to the waves of emigration from East Germany to West Germany, or other non-Soviet countries, between 1949 and 1961. Sputnik [83] [45] The ground-based systems operational today trace their roots back to this concept. Socialism is a political system which aims to transition from capitalism to communism. The Cold War was called cold because of the lack. His policy of containment is known as the Truman Doctrine. Its policymakers wanted to contain Soviet communism to keep Europe and the world free for US companies and American trade. StB was an abbreviation for Statni Bezpecnost, a plain-clothed secret police agency in communist Czechoslovakia. Each missile carried a single warheadthe largest in U.S. inventoryused liquid fuel propellants, and was stored and launched from hardened underground silos. Tet Offensive Tiananmen Square is a large public square in Beijing, the capital city of China. Solidarity is a trade union formed by Polish shipworkers in September 1980. Defense suppression. Its role was to gather information and intelligence by monitoring, intercepting and deciphering radio and signals traffic. This account was also confirmed by Teller, who wrote, Fifteen years later, I discovered that [Reagan] had been very interested in those ideas (Teller 509). About $11 billion in war matriel was sent to the Soviet Union under that program. Two squadrons of the missile were purchased and deployed by the Canadian government in 1958. During World War 2 the United Kingdom, France and the United States aligned another in order to defeat Nazi Germany. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty requires "Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control." When reformer Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, he began to drastically cut Soviet military spending, particularly the anti-ballistic missile program the USSR had started in response to SDI. A 1985 Gallup poll reported that 61% of respondents replied affirmatively to the question, Would you like to see the United States go ahead with the development of (SDI), or not?. Last Edited. During the Cold War NATO served as an anti-Soviet bloc alliance. Examples of Cold War secret police agencies were the KGB (Soviet Union), the Stasi (East Germany) and the Securitate (Romania). Non-Aligned Movement (or NAM) A satellite nation is nominally independent but relies on a larger nation for political direction and economic support. For more information on usage, please refer to our Terms of Use. In the early part of the Cold War, the threat (perceived. SDI was likely seen not only as a threat to the physical security of the Soviet Union, but also as part of an effort by the United States to seize the strategic initiative in arms controls by neutralizing the military component of Soviet strategy. It included the segmentation of greater Germany and the stripping away of its industries, leaving a primarily agricultural economy. He argued that SDI was hypocriticalthe West would be terrified if the Soviet Union developed an anti-ballistic missile system. It played an indispensable role in ensuring the predictability and . McCarran Act [94] Some critics used the term derisively, implying it was an impractical science fiction. McCarthyism Four test launches were conducted in 1983 and 1984 at Kwajalein Missile Range in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. [73][74] It was designed to operate in conjunction with the Brilliant Eyes sensor system. McCarthyism saw hundreds of individuals interrogated and/or punished for their alleged communist sympathies. Nuclear weapons were developed in 1944-45 and first used in two attacks on Japan (August 1945). Contents 1 Background 2 Soviet nuclear program 3 Long-range nuclear missiles 4 The nuclear arms race 5 Soviet size over quantity 6 Other nuclear-equipped states 7 Nuclear policy 8 Nuclear paranoia Background [44], In a best case scenario, they concluded that none of the systems could be deployed as an anti-missile system until into the next century.[44]. In most cases, local communist, socialist and left-wing groups were merged into larger parties. 2Project and proposals Toggle Project and proposals subsection 2.1Announcement 2.2Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) 2.3APS report 2.4Strategic Defense System 2.5Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS) 2.6Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) 3Ground-based programs Toggle Ground-based programs subsection This US-financed relief package provided funds to European nations to assist their reconstruction after World War II. This means the X-rays needed to be close to the Soviet Union, especially during the critical few minutes of the booster phase, for the Soviet missiles to be both detectable to radar and targeted by the lasers themselves. A President of the United States could offer to give that same defensive weapon to them to prove to them that there was no longer any need for keeping these missiles, explained Reagan. The Prague Spring refers to a liberal reform movement in socialist Czechoslovakia in 1968. An anti-ballistic missile systemone which would give the United States complete protection from the Soviet Unionwas the natural next step. The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization was renamed again by the George W. Bush administration as the Missile Defense Agency and focused onto limited National Missile Defense. Terra-3 was a Soviet laser testing centre, located on the Sary Shagan anti-ballistic missile (ABM) testing range in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. Their initial report was presented in 1986, but due to classification issues it was not released to the public (in redacted form) until early 1987.[44]. Ukrainian Air Force explains why Russians are using Shahed UAVs again, Ukrainska Pravda reports, citing Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for the Air Force of Ukraine. A New York Times op-ed similarly noted, It remains a pipe dream, a projection of fantasy into policy.Theres no statesmanship in science fiction., Scientists also expressed their doubts about SDI. Early on Tuesday 16 October 1962, John F Kennedy's national security assistant, McGeorge Bundy, brought to the President's bedroom some high-altitude photographs taken from U-2 planes flying over. Since a nuclear explosion was used as the power source, the detector was destroyed during the experiment and the results therefore could not be confirmed. This page was last edited on 13 February 2023, at 08:35. The Truman Doctrine refers to the United States foreign policy with regard to communism. [92][93], Historians from the Missile Defense Agency attribute the term "Star Wars" to a Washington Post article published March 24, 1983, the day after the speech, which quoted Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy describing the proposal as "reckless Star Wars schemes", a reference to the fantasy franchise Star Wars. The need for an effective anti-ballistic missile system grew considerably in Reagans eyes after he visited the headquarters of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in 1979. The U.S. and the Soviets were deep in the Cold War, and Reagan felt that the SDI would provide protection against a Soviet missile attack by intercepting missiles while they were still in the air, according to Atomic Archive. At Geneva, for example, Reagan proposed that the two sides reduce their respective nuclear arsenals by 50% but was unwilling to surrender SDI. Shultz told Dobrynin that this was a research and development effort and that we knew that the Soviets were pursuing such efforts as well, and that our proposed program for strategic defense would be designed to enhance stability. A disturbed Dobrynin reportedly replied, You will be opening a new phase in the arms race (Shultz 256). Although they protested the development of SDI, the opposition of the United States European allies had little effect on the programs development. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. [61], Beginning in 1985, the Air Force tested an SDIO-funded deuterium fluoride laser known as Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) at White Sands Missile Range. The Extended Range Interceptor (ERINT) program was part of SDI's Theater Missile Defense Program and was an extension of the Flexible Lightweight Agile Guided Experiment (FLAGE), which included developing hit-to-kill technology and demonstrating the guidance accuracy of a small, agile, radar-homing vehicle. Each firing of the railgun produces tremendous current flow (almost half a million amperes) through the rails, causing rapid erosion of the rail's surfaces (through ohmic heating), and even vaporization of the rail surface. Held at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the 1967 lecture was attended by Reagan shortly after he became the governor of California. The nuclear football is a briefcase carried by a military attache to the US president. After the SDIO closed, the MIRACL was tested on an old Air Force satellite for potential use as an anti-satellite weapon, with mixed results. Project A119 was an American project, devised in 1958 to secure advantage in the Space Race. Jessica Savitch reported on the technology in episode No.111 of Frontline, "Space: The Race for High Ground" on PBS on November 4, 1983. 110113, The Star Wars Enigma: Behind the Scenes of the Cold War Race for Missile Defense By Nigel Hey. It often involves radical political ideas and some violence. [41] Graham organized a meeting space at The Heritage Foundation in Washington and the groups began to meet in order to present their plans to the incoming president. Hans M. Kristensen 2012, "Estimated US-Russian Nuclear Warhead Inventories 19772018. [32] Though classified at the time, a detailed study on a Soviet space-based laser system began no later than 1976 as the Skif, a 1 MW Carbon dioxide laser along with the anti-satellite Kaskad, an in-orbit missile platform. START (or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) In addition to being considered for destroying ballistic missile threats, railguns were also being planned for service in space platform (sensor and battle station) defense. and particularly London. Sino-Soviet split 1. The Viet Minh was a Vietnamese nationalist-communist group, led by Ho Chi Minh. If you would like to suggest a term for inclusion in this glossary, please, Cold War memory quiz events 1945 to 1950, Cold War memory quiz events 1950 to 1959, Cold War memory quiz events 1980 to 1991, Cold War memory quiz terms and concepts (I), Cold War memory quiz terms and concepts (II). Memoirs. Red Scare Wind of change As Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin explained, the Soviet Union believed that the great technological potential of the United States had scored again and treated Reagans statement as a real threat (Gaddis 227). This requirement of being "cost effective at the margin" was first formulated by Paul Nitze in November 1985.[82]. National Liberation Front (see Viet Cong). You dont want to share even petroleum equipment, automatic machine tools or equipment for dairies, while sharing SDI would be a second American Revolution (Hanhimaki and Westad 583). Prague Spring Orthodox historians These weapons would be very difficult to destroy, even in a preemptive nuclear strike, and thus the Americans and the Soviets reached a certain equilibrium. It takes its name from the sustained public singing in its early days. In which John Green teaches you about the Cold War, the decades-long conflict between the USA and the USSR. Strategic Defense System, or SDS, was largely the Smart Rocks concept with an added layer of ground-based missiles in the US. A wide array of advanced weapon concepts, including lasers,[3][4] particle beam weapons and ground- and space-based missile systems were studied, along with various sensor, command and control, and high-performance computer systems that would be needed to control a system consisting of hundreds of combat centers and satellites spanning the entire globe and involved in a very short battle. One of the core ideas behind the GPALS system was that the Soviet Union would not always be assumed as the aggressor and the United States would not always be assumed as the target.[46]. ", "Did Star Wars Help End the Cold War? The reason for so many programs was the rapidly changing strategic threat; the Soviets claimed to be producing missiles "like sausages", and ever-more missiles would be needed to defend against this growing fleet. We look at its origins, how it operates and how it affects the lives of everyone. It erupted in 1965 and concluded with the communist takeover of Saigon in April 1975. Three weeks before the announcement of SDI, Reagan gave his famous evil empire speech, which branded the Soviet Union as the unequivocal enemy of the United States. Ostpolitik was a Dtente era policy adopted by West Germany and its leader, Willy Brandt. What about the ABM Treaty? A sophisticated attacker having the technology to use decoys, shielding, maneuvering warheads, defense suppression, or other countermeasures would have multiplied the difficulty and cost of intercepting the real warheads. The model was actually destroyed by the heat from the laser. [59] Such critics often cite the X-ray laser system as being the primary focus of SDI, with its apparent failure being a main reason to oppose the program; however, the laser was never more than one of the many systems being researched for ballistic missile defense. Although the fourth test was described as a success, the New York Times in August 1993 reported that the HOE4 test was rigged to increase the likelihood of a successful hit. Griffin. The Cold War refers to the period between the end of the Second World War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This act required communist organisations to register with the government, while government agencies were given power to investigate subversive activities. The McCarran Act was a name given to the Internal Security Act, passed by the United States Congress in 1950.