Ballistic missile defence

The Soviets have pursued ballistic missile defence (BMD) related activities for at least the past three to four decades. ¹ BMD systems are directly related to various space technologies ranging from launch vehicles to space-based sensors and weapons. There are strong indications that the 1972 ABM Treaty ratified by the United States and Soviet Union had no practical effect towards limiting Soviet BMD developments such as high-energy laser weapons research initiated during the mid-1960s. ² The Soviet strategy was to profit from apparent compliance to the ABM Treaty by hindering American technological momentum and proceeding to catch up with their own strategic defence efforts — a ploy they would like to repeat today with SDI. While the Soviet leadership may be publicly critical of BMD in the context of SDI, their own BMD efforts are formidable.