It . Title: Cold War glossary M to Z [90] Soviet motivations behind attempting to launch components of the Skif laser in the form of Polyus were, according to interviews conducted years later, more for propaganda purposes in the prevailing climate of focus on US SDI, than as an effective defense technology, as the phrase "Space based laser" has a certain political capital. First, the rails guiding the projectile must carry very high power. 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. SAC also monitored warning systems that watched for incoming attacks. Project A119 was an American project, devised in 1958 to secure advantage in the Space Race. 3. This program was immediately dubbed "Star Wars." An artist's rendering of an X-ray laser hit an incoming missile. National Liberation Front (see Viet Cong). The Cold War: A New History. 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. Despite its many critics, the Strategic Defense Initiative was ultimately very popular with the American public. Perestroika restructured the economy in an effort to supply goods and services to the Soviet people. Cold War Alliances & Leaders - Student Center | Britannica.com START I - The Nuclear Threat Initiative [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. Its member states have included US, Great Britain, France and West Germany. In 1992, scientist Aldric Saucier was given whistleblower protection after he was fired and complained about "wasteful spending on research and development" at the SDI. Policy makers tied it closely with the domino theory. Also, since only the projectile leaves the gun, a railgun system can potentially fire many times before needing to be resupplied. The Cold War and Missile Defense | SpringerLink M. D. Rosen et al., "Exploding Foil Technique for Achieving Soft X-Ray Laser," A revolution is a period of rapid political, social and/or economic change in a particular nation or region. Singing Revolution 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. [34] More tentatively, it is also suggested that the Zarya module of the International Space Station, capable of station keeping and providing sizable battery power, was initially developed to power the Skif laser system. The Reagan Files: Recently Released Documents Related to SDI. 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. Soviet bloc It authorised the US government to supply military aid, equipment and support to nations at risk from communism. Four test launches were conducted in 1983 and 1984 at Kwajalein Missile Range in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. 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. [66] The experiment successfully demonstrated that a particle beam would operate and propagate as predicted outside the atmosphere and that there are no unexpected side-effects when firing the beam in space.
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