ABSTRACT
The USSR's policies toward the use of ballistic missile defence (BMD) and space-based weapons for its own defense have been shaped by long-standing strategic goals. Historically, although the USSR has sometimes invaded countries much weaker than itself, it has almost always been extremely cautious about risking wars with other great powers that might endanger the Soviet system. In a period when Soviet socialism seemed technologically more dynamic than American capitalism, the question of whether the progress of military weaponry could be controlled by diplomatic means was not especially pressing. By the final third of the 1960s Soviet judgments about BMD's impact on superpower relations during crises began to change markedly. As the large Soviet military buildup brought the USSR closer to strategic parity and improved its technical ability to detect surprise attacks, Soviet decision-makers became more confident that the threat of certain retaliation would deter US nuclear strikes.
