The "Golden Dome": The History of Missile Defense Programs and Their Consequences
ORAL · Invited
Abstract
The White House’s establishment of the Golden Dome initiative aimed at fielding a comprehensive defense against ballistic missiles has sparked commentary about the program’s relationship with the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or “Star Wars.” Shortly after its announcement in 1983, SDI become the source of intense international controversy. As with Golden Dome, technical experts in the 1980s raised concerns about SDI’s technical feasibility as well as the implications of space-based missile defense for strategic stability. Both U.S. allies and the Soviet Union expressed hostility towards the very idea of deploying missile defense interceptors in space, severely complicating the U.S. – Soviet arms control negotiations at the end of the Cold War.
Now with the opening of relevant archives in the United States and abroad, it is possible to reexamine SDI’s enduring influence on missile defense technologies, strategic stability, arms control, and space security. What has emerged from analysis of relevant declassified materials is that SDI was inextricably linked with a broader U.S. effort beginning in the 1970s to leverage space technologies to secure military advantages over the Soviet Union. While SDI suffered from numerous technical challenges, it was ultimately reoriented towards ground-based mid-course defense primarily for political reasons stemming from the end of the Cold War. Even though the United States halted space-based interceptor development in the 1990s, SDI continued to shape Russian and Chinese thinking about missile defense countermeasures well into the 21st century. This talk will explore the lessons of SDI for the development of Golden Dome with a focus on technical feasibility, missile defense and U.S. alliances, strategic stability, and countermeasures to strategic defenses.
This talk will explore the lessons of SDI for the development of Golden Dome with a focus on technical feasibility, missile defense and U.S. alliances, strategic stability, and countermeasures to strategic defenses.
Now with the opening of relevant archives in the United States and abroad, it is possible to reexamine SDI’s enduring influence on missile defense technologies, strategic stability, arms control, and space security. What has emerged from analysis of relevant declassified materials is that SDI was inextricably linked with a broader U.S. effort beginning in the 1970s to leverage space technologies to secure military advantages over the Soviet Union. While SDI suffered from numerous technical challenges, it was ultimately reoriented towards ground-based mid-course defense primarily for political reasons stemming from the end of the Cold War. Even though the United States halted space-based interceptor development in the 1990s, SDI continued to shape Russian and Chinese thinking about missile defense countermeasures well into the 21st century. This talk will explore the lessons of SDI for the development of Golden Dome with a focus on technical feasibility, missile defense and U.S. alliances, strategic stability, and countermeasures to strategic defenses.
This talk will explore the lessons of SDI for the development of Golden Dome with a focus on technical feasibility, missile defense and U.S. alliances, strategic stability, and countermeasures to strategic defenses.
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Presenters
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Aaron Bateman
- George Washington University