viewed favoring deployment of ABM systems as an escalation rather than cessation of the nuclear arms race, and therefore a violation of this clause. Socialism is a political system which aims to transition from capitalism to communism. We thought it was wacko (Rhodes 206). Two days after announcing SDI, Reagan signed NSDD 85, which authorized the development of an intensive effort to define a long term research and development program aimed at an ultimate goal of eliminating the threat posed by nuclear ballistic missiles, but in a manner consistent with our obligations under the ABM Treaty and recognizing the need for close consultations with our allies. According to the Reagan administration, SDI was not a violation of ABM because it was only pursuing research and development, not deployment. 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. An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles (missile defense). post-colonialism Low-cost countermeasures like radar decoys required additional interceptors to counter. This Cold War glossary contains definitions for key terms, concepts and events between 1945 and 1991. Publisher: Alpha History It was able to fly at high altitude, avoiding enemy radar detection and surface-to-air missile systems. The Heritage Foundation provided High Frontier with space to conduct research, and Graham published a 1982 report entitled, "High Frontier: A New National Strategy" that examined in greater detail how the system would function.[40]. Strategic Defence Initiative (or SDI, Star Wars program) Macmillan was referring to the rising tide of nationalism in Africa, as well as opposition to the South African governments policy of apartheid. The project was abandoned in 1959. proxy war Neither country could attack the other without the strong probability that both sides would be annihilated. 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.. 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. [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. The Morgenthau Plan was an American plan for managing post-war Germany, devised in 1944. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (or SALT I and SALT II) It involved using deliberate signals and sending false information to communist countries, to create the impression that Nixon was unstable and may use nuclear weapons against them. Physicist Roald Sagdeev, who was a part of this effort, recalled, You know what the major argument was for investigating? 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 The Second Cold War is sometimes used to describe the post-Dtente revival of tensions during the early 1980s. Here's a list of some of the world's most powerful missiles simultaneously admired and feared right now. Launched on the same rocket as the RME, the Low-power Atmospheric Compensation Experiment (LACE) satellite was built by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to explore atmospheric distortion of lasers and real-time adaptive compensation for that distortion. URL: https://alphahistory.com/coldwar/cold-war-glossary-m-z/ It was designed to replace the MAD doctrine that Reagan and his aides described as a suicide pact. In 2001, President George W. Bush announced his administrations plan to withdraw from the ABM Treaty within six months. Its member states have included US, Great Britain, France and West Germany. As Gorbachev recalled, Reykjavik was the site of a truly Shakespearean drama.Success was a mere step away, but SDI proved an insurmountable stumbling-block (Gorbachev 418). MI5 While SDS was being proposed, Lawrence Livermore National had introduced a new concept known as Brilliant Pebbles. While the communists were defeated, the Tet Offensive showed that American victory in Vietnam was some years away. During this time, the world was largely divided into two ideological camps the United States-led capitalist "West" and the Soviet-dominated communist "East." Canada aligned with the West. Carter said X-rays have a limited scope because they become diffused through the atmosphere, much like the beam of a flashlight spreading outward in all directions. 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). Treaty of Brussels New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2005. 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. The UN has many roles, including investigating international problems and forming resolutions to avoid conflict. No more, no less. Marshall Plan Another common criticism of SDI was that it was simply not a feasible project. The first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) was signed by Mikhail Gorbachev and George Bush in Moscow in July 1991. Sino-Soviet split On June 28, 1985, David Lorge Parnas resigned from SDIO's Panel on Computing in Support of Battle Management, arguing in eight short papers that the software required by the Strategic Defense Initiative could never be made to be trustworthy and that such a system would inevitably be unreliable and constitute a menace to humanity in its own right. [77], Though regarded as one of the most capable SDI systems, the Brilliant Pebbles program was canceled in 1994 by the BMDO.[78]. [71], Groups of interceptors were to be housed in orbital modules. The Peacekeeper program began in 1971 as the missile experimental (MX) system as a way to increase the U.S. counterstrike capabilities against the Soviet Union, which at the time was focusing on constructing hardened shelters and missile defense systems. [84], A major objective of that strategy was the political separation of Western Europe from the United States, which the Soviets sought to facilitate by aggravating allied concern over the SDI's potential implications for European security and economic interests. The NAM aimed to chart a middle course and foster development in Second and Third World nations. the satellite X-ray laser, although it was ultimately ineffective. [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. Although the program was never officially canceled, it was renamed under President Bill Clinton as the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). It is a story of how Americans came to live with the Cold War, how they came to accept the tenets of nuclear deterrence and to live, in some cases, literally next door to nuclear weapons. Stasi was an abbreviation for the Ministry of State Security, a secret police agency in socialist East Germany. The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Researcher Stephen Semler estimated that the Pentagon spent around $2 million in this operation to shoot down the hobbyists' balloon over Lake Huron. Although SDI was a frequent topic in negotiations with Gorbachev, Reagan was reluctant to surrender his project. [80], The Delta 183 program used a satellite known as Delta Star to test several sensor related technologies. 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). StB was an abbreviation for Statni Bezpecnost, a plain-clothed secret police agency in communist Czechoslovakia. Reagan Doctrine It was the first such missile tested in the USSR, inaugurating the opening in 1947 of the Soviet Union's first missile test range at Kapustin Yar. Nuclear sharing is the Cold War practice of sharing American nuclear weapons with its NATO partners. It is technically feasible., Allies of the United States in Europe, particularly those in NATO, were also alarmed by the development of SDI. Eighteen were in Arkansas, from which intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nine-megaton nuclear warheads could be launched to strike targets as far as 5,500 miles away. It was originally built to test missile defense concepts, In 1984, officials within the United States Department of Defense (DoD) suggested it was the site of a prototypical anti-satellite weapon system. 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. An early focus of the SDI effort was an X-ray lasers powered by nuclear explosions. Morgenthau Plan Sagdeev later acknowledged, If Americans oversold [SDI], we Russians overbought it.. The objective of Project A119 was to detonate a large nuclear weapon on the Moon that would be visible to the naked eye. [46] Also, instead of making plans to protect against thousands of incoming missiles, the GPALS system sought to provide flawless protection from up to two hundred nuclear missiles. Nuclear winter describes a theoretical period of several months following a major nuclear exchange. Truman Doctrine The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, usually abbreviated to the Soviet Union, was one of the main protagonists of the Cold War. Nuclear weapons were developed in 1944-45 and first used in two attacks on Japan (August 1945). Unsurprisingly, concerns over MAD and ABM were widespread following the announcement of SDI, even among members of the Reagan administration. The capture of an American U-2 by the Soviets in 1960 caused an international incident. 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. 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". The United States and the Soviet Union were both superpowers during the Cold War. We had no idea where the idea had come from, none of us, said Kenneth Adelman. Lend-Lease was the most visible sign of wartime cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Policy makers tied it closely with the domino theory. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. [31], Development of laser weapons in the Soviet Union began in 19641965. The missile gap refers toan American perception, common in the 1950s, that the Soviet Union possessed a larger stockpile of ballistic missiles. These negotiations culminated in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which went into effect in 1988, and laid the groundwork for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in the 1990s. Nuclear fallout describes radioactive particles that remain in the atmosphere after a nuclear explosion. 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. Authors: Jennifer Llewellyn, Jim Southey, Steve Thompson Point Alpha, or Observation Post Alpha, was a US Army lookout in West Germany, close to the border with West Germany. 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. 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. 1. The Homing Overlay Experiment (HOE) was the first hit-to-kill system tested by the US Army, and also the first successful hit-to-kill intercept of a mock ballistic missile warhead outside the Earth's atmosphere.[49]. [53] Per the GAO report, the net effect of the DOD enhancements increased the infrared signature of the target vessel by 110% over the realistic missile signature initially proposed for the HOE program, but nonetheless the GAO concluded the enhancements to the target vessel were reasonable given the objectives of the program and the geopolitical consequences of its failure. Other spin-offs include research on advanced materials like SEAgel and Aerogel, the Electron-Beam Ion Trap facility for physics research, and enhanced techniques for early detection of breast cancer. The Strategic Defense Initiative became a key negotiating point in a series of meetings between Reagan and Gorbachev: the Geneva Summit (1985), the Reykjavik Summit (1986), the Washington Summit (1987), and the Moscow Summit (1988). Faced with this report, and the press storm that followed, the SDIO changed direction. Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a branch of the US Air Force during the Cold War. Marxism missile gap mujahideen It was tasked with analysing the Soviet military threat to the US. This device would destroy the ICBM reentry vehicle on collision. No theatrical effects were used. NATO is a trans-Atlantic military alliance, formed in 1949. Perestroika is a Russian word meaning restructuring. Copyright: The content on this page may not be republished without our express permission. Byrnes assured listeners that the US would protect German sovereignty and, in time, support a return to German self government. Citation information "There is good evidence that in the late 1960s the Soviets were giving serious thought to both explosive and nonexplosive nuclear power sources for lasers of an unknown type. It was dubbed the Military Marshall Plan. 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. 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? Solidarity played a pivotal role in bringing about liberal reform and free elections in Poland in 1989. Prague Spring National Liberation Front (see Viet Cong). Reagan reportedly was very taken by Tellers briefing on directed-energy weapons (DEWs), such as lasers and microwaves. Strategic Defense System, or SDS, was largely the Smart Rocks concept with an added layer of ground-based missiles in the US. SS-N-30 Russian warships let fly 26 of these cruise missiles on October 7, 2017. In theory, an advanced opponent could have targeted those, in turn requiring self-defense capability or increased numbers to compensate for attrition. a. ended the Cold War (FALSE) b. brought the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. close to nuclear war (TRUE) c. destroyed missiles in Cuba pointed at the U.S. (TRUE) d. led to a UN invasion of Cuba (FALSE) Q 2. a. eliminated poverty (FALSE) b. created so many anti-poverty programs that the middle class resented them (TRUE) The Soviet bloc countries (USSR) were pitted against the US-led Western powers. 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. The criticism was that SDI could have potentially allowed an attacker to survive the lighter counter-strike, thus encouraging a first strike by the side having SDI. Claiming To Be A Disembodied Spirit & Fallen Angel (Video) Folks, every resident connected to a municipal water supply needs to know about this database. Data from the experiments led to advances in sensor technologies.[81]. The Warsaw Pact was an alliance of European communist nations, formed in 1955. 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. That boy from The Revenant was killed by that worker and left in the forest with his injured dad who . Stalinist The demonstration was perhaps the first televised use of a weapons grade laser. 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. 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. The Marshall Plan was a name given to the European Recovery Plan (ERP). 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. At Reykjavik the following year, Reagans attachment to SDI again proved to be a significant obstacle to negotiations and the summit ended without a deal. START I was the first treaty to provide for deep reductions of U.S. and Soviet/Russian strategic nuclear weapons. It was first formed by Harry Truman in 1947 and generally contains the President, Vice-President, high-ranking members of Cabinet and top-tier commanders from the military and intelligence sector. Why cant we just lean on the Soviets until they go broke? quipped Reagan (Lazzari 23). [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. This potential role reflected defense planner expectations that the railguns of the future would be capable of not only rapid fire, but also of multiple firings (on the order of tens to hundreds of shots). Self-determination is a political principle which argues that populations should have the right to decide their own political system and government. This act required communist organisations to register with the government, while government agencies were given power to investigate subversive activities. 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). A strategic nuclear weapon is a larger yield device, intended for launching against cities, ports, military bases or other large targets of significance. While it's nice to hear that they're extremely worried about it, what are they willing to do to combat it. 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. Title: Cold War glossary M to Z [95] In comments to the media on March 7, 1986, Acting Deputy Director of SDIO, Dr. Gerold Yonas, described the name "Star Wars" as an important tool for Soviet disinformation and asserted that the nickname gave an entirely wrong impression of SDI.[96]. Defense suppression. [20] Early development contracts were awarded to L3Harris and SpaceX. 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 Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively nicknamed the "Star Wars program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles). In 1985, for example, physicist Wolfgang Panofsky wrote in Physics Today, ABM defense technology deserves further research within treaty limits, but the Star Wars program is too large, too political, raises false hopes and poses grave dangers to national and world security. Members of the Reagan administration, however, pushed back against this notion. Early prototypes were essentially single-use weapons, requiring complete replacement of the rails after each firing. The nuclear football is a briefcase carried by a military attache to the US president. During the Putin era, little of that has happened. Bell Labs pointed out that although longer-range missiles flew much faster, their longer flight times would address the timing issue and their very high altitudes would make long-range detection by radar easier. Ir also These missiles were intended to attack the enemy warheads that the Smart Rocks had missed. 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. An Afghan guerrilla with a US-made Stinger anti-aircraft missile in this photo taken between November 1987 and January 1988. . 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. The model was actually destroyed by the heat from the laser. During the 20th century, Western imperial powers like Britain and France withdrew from colonies in Africa, Asia and elsewhere. U-2 Team B [75] Detailed studies were undertaken by several advisory boards, including the Defense Science Board and JASON, in 1989. Stasi Some analysts might well see Russia's development programme as a long-term strategy to cope with Washington's abiding interest in anti-missile defences. Ping pong diplomacy refers to events in the early 1970s, when an American table tennis undertook a tour of communist China. During his tour of the complex, Reaganimpressed with the extensive fortificationsasked General James Hill what would happen if a Soviet nuclear missile hit within the vicinity of the mountain. 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. It was used to described reforms implemented by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in the mid 1980s. 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]. Its policymakers wanted to contain Soviet communism to keep Europe and the world free for US companies and American trade.