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Military Technology, Armaments Dynamics and Disarmament pp 215–227Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Transformation of War: The Real Implications of the SDI

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Abstract

President Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ speech of 23 March 1983 resulted in an intensification of US research and development into strategic defence, not the initiation of an entirely new programme. The idea of constructing a defence against offensive nuclear missiles is almost as old as the missiles themselves. The United States and the Soviet Union undertook intensive research and development programmes into ballistic missile defence systems in the 1960s1 and were also prepared to develop and deploy such systems as well as related weapons intended for use against satellites.

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Notes

  1. A useful general acount of the development of ballistic missile defences, including anti-satellite weapons is Curtis Peebles, Battle for Space ( London: Blandford, 1983 ).

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  2. See Paul B. Stares, Space Weapons and US Strategy (London and Sydney: Croom Helm 1985) for a good general account of SDI and the range of arguments contributing to the debate.

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  3. Discussed in Rip Bulkeley and Graham Spinardi, Space Weapons: Deterrence or Delusion? ( Cambridge: Polity Press, 1986 ).

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  4. One of the best general accounts of the history of warfare is the recent overview by Gwynne Dyer, War ( London: Guild Publishing, 1986 ).

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  5. Lorna Arnold’s revealing account of the UK nuclear test programme in the 1950s, A Very Special Relationship (London: HMSO, 1987) gives a valuable insight into the motives for Britain’s development of nuclear weapons.

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  6. Stewart Menaul’s Countdown: Britain’s Strategic Nuclear Forces (London: Robert Hale, 1980) is also interesting.

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  7. See Robert Jackson, Avro Vulcan ( Cambridge: Patrick Stephens, 1984 ).

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  8. A detailed description of the various tactical nuclear weapons is available in Paul Rogers, Guide to Nuclear Weapons, 1984–85 ( Bradford: University of Bradford School of Peace Studies, 1984 ).

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  9. The counter-arguments are put in Malcolm Dando and Paul Rogers, The Death of Deterrence ( London: CND Publications, 1984 ).

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  10. See Dan Plesch, Preparing for the First Use of Nuclear Weapons in Europe, Peace Research Report Number 16 ( Bradford: University of Bradford School of Peace Studies, 1987 ).

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Authors
  1. Paul Rogers
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. IPRA Study Group, Weapons Technology and Disarmament and of Peace Research and European Security Studies (AFES-PRESS), Germany

    Hans Günter Brauch (Chairman, Lecturer) (Chairman, Lecturer)

  2. Institute of Political Science, Heidelberg University, Germany

    Hans Günter Brauch (Chairman, Lecturer) (Chairman, Lecturer)

Copyright information

© 1989 Hans Günter Brauch

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Rogers, P. (1989). The Transformation of War: The Real Implications of the SDI. In: Brauch, H.G. (eds) Military Technology, Armaments Dynamics and Disarmament. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10221-1_8

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