ABSTRACT

Estimates of the potential costs of alternative strategic defense systems should be an intrinsic element in decisions about whether the US should develop and deploy these systems, especially because of the ''opportunity costs' 'involved-what the nation would have to forgo in other military or civilian programs or in private resources because of higher taxes or larger deficits. In this book, the authors describe four notional strategic defense systems, each with a different ambitious objective, and then estimate their costs

chapter |11 pages

Executive Summary

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

part 1|86 pages

Costs of Notional Strategic Defense Systems

chapter 1|27 pages

Notional Strategic Defense System Alpha

Defense of Nuclear Retaliatory Forces

chapter 2|6 pages

Notional Strategic Defense System Beta

Defense of Nuclear Retaliatory Forces plus a Partial Population Defense Against Small Attacks

chapter 3|21 pages

Notional Strategic Defense System Gamma

A Comprehensive Defense Using Space-Based Missile Interceptors

chapter 4|9 pages

Notional Strategic Defense System Delta

A Comprehensive Defense Using Space-Based Laser Weapons

chapter 6|6 pages

Critical Assumptions and Sensitivities

part 2|42 pages

Strategic Defense Costs in Perspective