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Strategic Defense Initiative (view source)
Revision as of 08:04, September 15, 2009
, 08:04, September 15, 2009add
[[Image:Sdilogo.png|200px|right|thumb]]
[[Image:Sdilogo.png|200px|right|thumb]]
The '''Strategic Defense Initiative''' (SDI), which is also commonly called '''Star Wars''' (at first by detractors), was a proposal by U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1983 to build a ground- and space-based system to protect the U.S. from nuclear ballistic missiles. The system was never fully set up, but the research from this paved the way for the anti-ballistic missile systems of today, including the [[Patriot missile]] that provided the defense against [[Iraq]]i Scud missiles launched against [[American]] forces and [[Israel]] during the [[Gulf War]]. It is believed by some experts that the Soviet's response necessitated by SDI contributed to their financial and political collapse.
The '''Strategic Defense Initiative''' (SDI), commonly called '''Star Wars''', was a proposal by U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1983 to build a ground- and space-based system to protect the U.S. from nuclear ballistic missiles. The system was never fully set up, but the research from this paved the way for the anti-ballistic missile systems of today, including the [[Patriot missile]] that provided the defense against [[Iraq]]i Scud missiles launched against [[American]] forces and [[Israel]] during the [[Gulf War]]. It is believed by some experts that the Soviet's response necessitated by SDI contributed to their financial and political collapse.
SDI was a major component of the [[Reagan Doctrine]] in foreign policy, designed to push the Soviets to its limits and beyond into collapse.
==Goals of SDI==
==Goals of SDI==
The criticisms were substantially weakened by the successful missile defense deployed during the [[Gulf War]], when the Patriot missiles successfully and spectacularly shot down deadly missiles launched by Saddam Hussein against military and civilian targets.
The criticisms were substantially weakened by the successful missile defense deployed during the [[Gulf War]], when the Patriot missiles successfully and spectacularly shot down deadly missiles launched by Saddam Hussein against military and civilian targets.
==Changes==
Under Reagan SDI explored advanced technologies with the aim of determining the feasibility of effective, nonnuclear ballistic missile defenses (BMD). The initial focus of SDI reflected US concerns about growing Soviet first-strike capabilities. Thus, an initial deployment of defenses, or Phase I Strategic Defense System, was to have provided the minimum defensive capability that would add meaningfully to deterrence of a Soviet first strike. However, with the end of the [[Cold War]], President [[George H.W. Bush]] in early 1991 directed that SDI be refocused to provide global protection against limited strikes, thus shifting the primary US role for BMD from deterrence to actual protection.
==See also==
* [[Reagan Doctrine]]
* [[Ronald Reagan]]
==Further reading==
* Baucom, Donald R. ''The Origins of SDI, 1944-1983'' (1992),
* Westwick, Peter J. "'Space-Strike Weapons' and the Soviet Response to SDI," ''Diplomatic History'' 2008 32(5): 955-979
==References==
==References==