What had really changed was that Teller was now selling his latest nuclear weapon, the X-ray laser. The Madman theory was a strategy or ploy used by United States president Richard Nixon during the Cold War. Held at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the 1967 lecture was attended by Reagan shortly after he became the governor of California. This process was initiated during the Soviet military occupation and overseen by Soviet agents and loyalists. mutually assured destruction (or MAD) In-flight guidance, if implemented, would require the onboard navigation system to be built to the same level of sturdiness as the main mass of the projectile. The demonstration was perhaps the first televised use of a weapons grade laser. Reagan reportedly was very taken by Tellers briefing on directed-energy weapons (DEWs), such as lasers and microwaves. 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. Signed on May 14, 1955, the Warsaw Pact established the Warsaw Treaty Organization, a mutual defense alliance that was originally composed of the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. At 50 megatons it was the largest nuclear weapon ever constructed and tested. Reagan confirmed this fact in a 1984 letter: Frankly, I have no idea what the nature of such a defense might be. 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). strategic nuclear weapon For more information on usage, please refer to our Terms of Use. It was founded in 1961 by Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Yugoslavian president Josip Tito, Egyptian president Gamal Nasser and other leaders. According to the BMDO, the research on neutral particle beam accelerators, which was originally funded by the SDIO, could eventually be used to reduce the half-life of nuclear waste products using accelerator-driven transmutation technology.[67]. [33][34], A revolver cannon (Rikhter R-23) was mounted on the 1974 Soviet Salyut 3 space station, a satellite that successfully test fired its cannon in orbit. This system was never deployed, but the technology of the system was used in the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system and the Ground-Based Interceptor currently deployed as part of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system.[55]. John H. Nuckolls, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1988 to 1994, described the system as "The crowning achievement of the Strategic Defense Initiative". sphere of influence 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). Some members of the mujahideen were later associated with the Taliban and Osama bin Ladens al-Qaeda. A revolution is a period of rapid political, social and/or economic change in a particular nation or region. The military-industrial complex describes an alleged confederacy between politicians, military commanders and industrial capitalists who manufacture weapons. rezidentura used operationally late in the war, was the system most extensively studied arid emulated by the Soviets. [37], In 1979, Reagan visited the NORAD command base, Cheyenne Mountain Complex, where he was first introduced to the extensive tracking and detection systems extending throughout the world and into space; however, he was struck by their comments that while they could track the attack down to the individual targets, there was nothing one could do to stop it. According to a 1983 US Interagency Intelligence Assessment, there was good evidence that in the late 1960s the Soviets were devoting serious thought to both explosive and non-explosive nuclear power sources for lasers. Why cant we just lean on the Soviets until they go broke? quipped Reagan (Lazzari 23). StB was an abbreviation for Statni Bezpecnost, a plain-clothed secret police agency in communist Czechoslovakia. Otherwise known as Star Wars, SDI sought to create a space-based shield that would render nuclear missiles obsolete. Between 1971 and 1974, all Lafayette, Madison, and. It was updated on February 1st, 2023. United Nations (or UN) They were sent to Syrian rebel targets located 1,000 miles from the warships located in the Caspian Sea. Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday announced that his government would begin a $1 billion program to build missiles in Australia, for the first time since the 1960s, in close collaboration. He argued that SDI was hypocriticalthe West would be terrified if the Soviet Union developed an anti-ballistic missile system. Teller argued that DEWs could potentially defend against a nuclear attack, characterizing them as the third generation of nuclear weapons after fission and thermonuclear weapons, respectively (Rhodes 179). FLAGE scored a direct hit against a MGM-52 Lance missile in flight, at White Sands Missile Range in 1987. The McCarran Act was a name given to the Internal Security Act, passed by the United States Congress in 1950. Proponents of SDI argued that SDI development might instead cause the side that did not have the resources to develop SDI to, rather than launching a suicidal nuclear first strike attack before the SDI system was deployed, instead come to the bargaining table with the country that did have those resources and, hopefully, agree to a real, sincere disarmament pact that would drastically decrease all forces, both nuclear and conventional. [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. ", History of the Missile Defense Organization, "Striking a Bullet with a Bullet: HOE; 2022 Lockheed Martin Corporation", "Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles * Appendix 4: Undesignated Vehicles * HOE; Andreas Parsch, 2003", "Lies and Rigged 'Star Wars' Test Fooled the Kremlin, and Congress". During the 20th century, Western imperial powers like Britain and France withdrew from colonies in Africa, Asia and elsewhere. During the Cold War NATO served as an anti-Soviet bloc alliance. NATO is a trans-Atlantic military alliance, formed in 1949. More recently, new developments under Project Excalibur by Teller's "O-Group" at LLNL suggested that a single X-ray laser could shoot down dozens of missiles with a single shot. The Announcement On March 23, 1983, President Reagan announced the SDI program in a television address broadcast nationally. The actual design of SDI was also unclear; scientists and experts considered an enormous number of possibilities. OPEC was responsible for the 1973 Oil Crisis (see above). Whereas the current United States national missile defense system is designed around a relatively limited and unsophisticated attack, SDI planned for a massive attack by a sophisticated opponent. Thermonuclear weapons were first tested by the US (1952) and the Soviet Union (1954). Technical criticism[58] based upon unclassified calculations suggested that the X-ray laser would be of at best marginal use for missile defense. Coming so close to Armageddon motivated leaders of both nations to undertake some of the world's first nuclear arms control pacts, including the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. This was later proved to be incorrect. The South-East Asia Treaty Organisation or SEATO was an alliance of eight Asia-Pacific countries, formed in 1955. Soviet scientists were immediately tasked with investigating SDI. Tiananmen Square is a large public square in Beijing, the capital city of China. Additional assistance came from U.S. Russian War Relief (a private, nonprofit organization) and the Red Cross. For example, the published stories about our Star Wars programme were replete with misinformation and forced the Russians to expose their sleeper agents inside the American government by ordering them to make a desperate attempt to find out what the US was doing. The mujahideen were Islamic resistance fighters who fought against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, with American funding and support. The Warsaw Pact was an alliance of European communist nations, formed in 1955. Causes of the Cold War. The U.S.-Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as START I, was signed 31 July 1991 by U.S. President George H.W. This boost phase intercept rendered MIRV impotent; a successful attack would destroy all of the warheads. [83] 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. NDA, which still exists today, has studied the possibilities of space-based anti-ballistic missile technology, as SDI once did, although without any significant results to date. [22], The US Army had considered the issue of ballistic missile defense (BMD) as early as late in World War II. Ambassador to Canada Thomas Niles explained, The Europeans saw SDI as an indication that the United States, at least theoretically, was interested in backing away from this commitment to Europe and building a Fortress America, with this high-tech system that would protect us, but not them.. In March 1984, Bethe coauthored a 106-page report for the Union of Concerned Scientists that concluded "the X-ray laser offers no prospect of being a useful component in a system for ballistic missile defense. 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). Many such rods would be placed around a warhead, each one aimed at a different ICBM, thus destroying many ICBMs in a single attack. A number of [rogue] states are acquiring increasingly longer-range ballistic missiles as instruments of blackmail and coercion against the United States and its friends and allies, read an official statement. It included the segmentation of greater Germany and the stripping away of its industries, leaving a primarily agricultural economy. It was detonated in remote northern Russia in 1961. " Previously, they were used more in combination with missiles. SS-N-30 Russian warships let fly 26 of these cruise missiles on October 7, 2017. [21] CIA Director Mike Pompeo called for additional funding to achieve a full-fledged Strategic Defense Initiative for our time, the SDI II". Unfortunately, the operational cost of such a system would be enormous, and the US Air Force continually rejected such concepts. What about our allies and the strategic doctrine on which we and they depend? (Shultz 250). On the one side are the United States and its East Asian and . self-determination The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Opponents disagreed, saying advances in technology, such as using very strong laser beams, and by "bleaching" the column of air surrounding the laser beam, could increase the distance that the X-ray would reach to successfully hit its target. The Cold War refers to the period between the end of the Second World War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite its many critics, the Strategic Defense Initiative was ultimately very popular with the American public. After President Reagans speech, what had seemed outlandish became the agenda for debate (Shultz 261). Below is a list of missiles, sorted alphabetically by name. Reagans interest in anti-ballistic missile technology dated back to 1967 when, as governor of California, he paid a visit to physicist Edward Teller at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The Reagan Files: Recently Released Documents Related to SDI. Shultzs assessment proved to be correct. In this speech Khrushchev denounced the tyranny, brutality and abuses of power under his predecessor, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Washington, D.C., April 8, 2021 - The United States and its European allies disagreed over the advisability of using nuclear weapons to signal resolve and deter war if a serious crisis with Moscow over West Berlin broke out, according to a review of declassified records posted today by the nongovernmental National Security Archive. Scientific development did not influence policy in this case; it was policy that was intended to influence science. The INF Treaty, which eliminated all short-range (310-620 miles) and intermediate-range (620-3420 miles) nuclear missiles, was signed at the Washington Summit later that year. 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]. Railguns face a host of technical challenges before they will be ready for battlefield deployment. McCarthyism Beginning in late 1986, Abrahamson proposed that SDI would be based on the system he had previously dismissed, a version of High Frontier now renamed the "Strategic Defense System, Phase I Architecture". 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). Scroll down to learn more. SDIO sensor research encompassed visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, and radar technologies, and eventually led to the Clementine mission though that mission occurred just after the program transitioned to the BMDO. Strategic Defence Initiative (or SDI, Star Wars program) SDI was controversial in some sectors, and was criticized for threatening to destabilize the MAD-approach potentially rendering the Soviet nuclear arsenal useless and to possibly re-ignite "an offensive arms race". Only the space stationed nuclear pumped X-ray laser concept would have violated this treaty, since other SDI systems, did not require the pre-positioning of nuclear explosives in space. [47] The GPALS system also was able to protect the United States from attacks coming from all different parts of the world.[47]. This post is a comprehensive timeline of the Cold War, from the origins of the Russian-American conflict following World War Two to the final dissolution of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall at the end of the 20th century. This cost-exchange ratio was so favorable that it appeared the only thing building a defense would do would be to cause an arms race. ERINT was a prototype missile similar to the FLAGE, but it used a new solid-propellant rocket motor that allowed it to fly faster and higher than FLAGE. A neutron bomb is a thermonuclear weapon that delivers high amounts of radiation but with low explosive yield. Scientific experts had not made any groundbreaking discoveries in the years leading up to the announcement of SDI, and they were far from certain whether such a system was even possible. Numerous variants have been produced since its inception, including air-, ship-, and sub-launched versions. It is technically feasible., Allies of the United States in Europe, particularly those in NATO, were also alarmed by the development of SDI. The group met with Reagan several times during 1981 and 1982, apparently with little effect, while the buildup of new offensive weaponry like the B-1 Lancer and MX missile continued; however, in early 1983, the Joint Chiefs of Staff met with the president and outlined the reasons why they might consider shifting some of the funding from the offensive side to new defensive systems. The treaty limited each side to have one limited ABM system to protect its capital and another to protect an ICBM launch area, and the signatories agreed not to develop, test, or deploy [additional] ABM launchers. ABM recognized the reality that an anti-ballistic missile system would actually make both sides less secure because it would undermine the balance of mutually assured destruction. Reagans speech blindsided many of his close advisors, some of whom had not been given advance warning that SDI would soon be administration policy. No more, no less. [20] Early development contracts were awarded to L3Harris and SpaceX. and particularly London. Unsurprisingly, concerns over MAD and ABM were widespread following the announcement of SDI, even among members of the Reagan administration. To many, it was as unexpected as it was provocative. The granting of support and aid to freedom fighters (anti-communist groups and movements) was at the core of the Reagan Doctrine. Madman theory It culminated a brief border war in 1969. socialism This act required communist organisations to register with the government, while government agencies were given power to investigate subversive activities. secret police The High Precision Tracking Experiment (HPTE), launched with the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-G, was tested June 21, 1985, when a Hawaii-based low-power laser successfully tracked the experiment and bounced the laser off of the HPTE mirror. This program was immediately dubbed "Star Wars." An artist's rendering of an X-ray laser hit an incoming missile. Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and theory of history, developed in the 1800s by Karl Marx. [38], In the fall of 1979, at Reagan's request, Lieutenant General Daniel O. Graham, the former head of the DIA, briefed Reagan on an updated BAMBI he called High Frontier, a missile shield composed of multi-layered ground- and space-based weapons that could track, intercept, and destroy ballistic missiles, which would theoretically be possible because of emerging technologies. And we played it for all it was worth (Shultz 264). at the same time significancly currailing war.time production in the London area. During the Cold War, Washington and Moscow came together over landmark arms control agreements. Gorbachev limited Soviet imperialism and sought better relations with the United States. [26][27], Through this period, the entire topic of BMD became increasingly controversial. During the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan initiated the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), an anti-ballistic missile program that was designed to shoot down nuclear missiles in space. During this period nuclear fallout and other debris lingers in the atmosphere, blocking out sunlight. ", "Did Star Wars Help End the Cold War? Non-Aligned Movement (or NAM) The Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser program uses a chemical laser which has successfully intercepted a missile taking off,[65] so an offshoot of SDI could be said to have successfully implemented one of the key goals of the program. The Tet Offensive was a major campaign, launched by communists in Vietnam in January 1968. Tsar Bomba Specifically, they noted that all of the systems had to improve their energy output by at least 100 times, and in some cases as much as a million. ping pong diplomacy The U-2 was an American spy plane used widely during the Cold War. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2005. Its role was to gather information and intelligence by monitoring, intercepting and deciphering radio and signals traffic. Although he was influenced by scientists such as Teller, the Strategic Defense Initiative was ultimately Reagans personal vision because it was based on technology that had not yet been invented. [31], Development of laser weapons in the Soviet Union began in 19641965. Olympic boycott Solidarnosc (or Solidarity) That boy from The Revenant was killed by that worker and left in the forest with his injured dad who . Advancements in new sensors and microprocessors allowed all of this to be packaged into the volume of a small missile nose cone. Faced with this report, and the press storm that followed, the SDIO changed direction. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program. These findings, though later discredited, contributed to the US arms buildup under Ronald Reagan. [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. Gorbachev was skeptical that a sharing program could be arranged, arguing, I do not take your idea of sharing SDI seriously. Truman pledged to support friendly nations in their struggle to resist communism. The Truman Doctrine demonstrated that the United States would not return to isolationism after World War II, but rather take an active role in world affairs. Rather than manifesting as a traditional conflict waged through extensive use of weapons, the Cold War was conducted using propaganda, political hostility, and threats. It was founded to give Arab oil-producing nationsgreater leverage when dealing with US and Western oil companies. Date published: September 14, 2018 It was tasked with analysing the Soviet military threat to the US. Notable among these were particle-beam weapons, updated versions of nuclear shaped charges, and various plasma weapons. [17] Through declassified papers of American intelligence agencies the wider implications and effects of the program were examined and revealed that due to the potential neutralization of its arsenal and resulting loss of a balancing power factor, SDI was a cause of grave concern for the Soviet Union and her primary successor state Russia. Truman Doctrine It erupted in 1965 and concluded with the communist takeover of Saigon in April 1975. Low-cost countermeasures like radar decoys required additional interceptors to counter. A 1961 decommissioned Atlas-F intercontinental ballistic missile silo complex is for sale. The particle beam concept was demonstrated to basically not work, as was the case with several other concepts. Graham's proposal was repeatedly rejected by members of the Heritage group as well as within SDIO; when asked about it in 1985, Abrahamson suggested that the concept was underdeveloped and was not being considered. 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. McCarran Act They put together an all-star panel including many of the inventors of the laser, one of which was a Nobel laureate. They were launched by the Soviet Union in 1957. The Chinese foreign ministry denied that China had tested a hypersonic missile. 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. Marxism Project A119 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. Or with that defense, he could then say to them, I am willing to do away with all my missiles. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, usually abbreviated to the Soviet Union, was one of the main protagonists of the Cold War. Copyright 2022 by the Atomic Heritage Foundation. 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. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter the world's most expensive weapons program is projected to cost $1.7 trillion over its 66-year lifetime, roughly equivalent to the nominal GDP of Russia. The missile is liquid-fueled, and categorized as a "super-heavy" ICBM one with enough lifting capacity to deliver multiple warheads arranged in a so-called multiple independently targeted. Griffin. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (or NATO) [34], The polyus was a prototype of the Skif orbital weapons platform designed to destroy Strategic Defense Initiative satellites with a megawatt carbon-dioxide laser. The War Zone has gone into detail about just how challenging shooting down a long-range ballistic missile is, and how rickety America's defenses really are when it comes to counter such an attack . [73][74] It was designed to operate in conjunction with the Brilliant Eyes sensor system. Research out of hypervelocity railgun technology was done to build an information base about railguns so that SDI planners would know how to apply the technology to the proposed defense system. 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).