Download or read book The Russian and Iranian Missile Threats written by Azriel Bermant and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "As tensions rise over Ukraine, NATO is making preparations for the deployments of a ballistic missile defense (BMD) system in Romania in 2015 and in Poland in 2018. The United States and NATO claim that the missile defense shield is not directed at Russia, but is designed to deal with the dual threat of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction emanating from the Middle East. Russia, on the other hand, has consistently maintained that the anti-missile shield is directed at its own strategic nuclear forces, as NATO's planned deployments in Eastern Europe reinforce the Kremlin's resentment over what it perceives as Western penetration into its 'near abroad.' The monograph provides an in-depth exploration of the ongoing controversy over the NATO BMD system in Europe and argues that the very high cost of maintaining the system is justified in terms of its ability to mitigate damage, provide greater flexibility for national leaders, strengthen the morale of vulnerable populations, and devalue the threats posed by revisionist states"--Publisher's web site.
Download or read book Russia and NATO Ballistic Missile Defense written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2018-06-12 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objectives of the U.S. government's European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA)--the U.S. contribution to NATO missile defense--set out by President Barack Obama in September 2009 were modified over the course of his administration, which ended in January 2017. This study explores how U.S. interactions with Russia and the NATO Allies influenced the decisions on modifications made by the United States--for example, the cancellation in March 2013 of the EPAA's projected fourth phase. This study finds that U.S. interactions with the NATO Allies and Russia played a role in revisions in the original objectives of the EPAA but were not the only contributing factors. Budgetary constraints, technological issues, and reassessments of threats also led to modifications in the EPAA program. Providing for the defense of populations, national territories, and forces remains a high priority for the United States and its NATO Allies, and the Alliance has repeatedly sought dialogue and cooperation with Russia concerning missile defense. Events have vindicated the EPAA's design for adaptability to benefit from technological innovations and to meet the evolving needs for Alliance protection in the international security environment.I. INTRODUCTION * A. MAJOR RESEARCH QUESTION * B. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH QUESTION * C. LITERATURE REVIEW * 1. Obama Administration Policy and Revisions * 2. Ballistic Missile Defense Review * 3. 2010 NATO Lisbon Summit Declaration * 4. Russian Views * 5. Secondary Sources * D. POTENTIAL EXPLANATIONS AND HYPOTHESES * 1. Hypothesis 1: Budget * 2. Hypothesis 2: Technology * 3. Hypothesis 3: Russia's Response * 4. Hypothesis 4: Interactions with NATO Allies * E. RESEARCH DESIGN * F. THESIS OVERVIEW AND CHAPTER OUTLINE * II. HISTORY OF BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE * A. SZILARD LETTER (1939) AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT (1941) * B. BACKGROUND ON BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE (1940s-1960s) * 1. V-2 Rocket, Project Wizard, and Project Thumper * 2. NATO Strategic Concept (1949) * 3. Project Plato and PATRIOT * 4. Nike Zeus, Project Defender, and Nike-X ABM * 5. Reorientation of Missile Defense: Sentinel * C. STRATEGIC ARMS LIMITATION TALKS (SALT) AND ANTI-BALLISTIC (ABM) TREATY * D. PRIORITY SHIFT OF U.S. SECURITY POLICY * 1. Strategic Defense Initiative * 2. GPALS, PAC-3, and THAAD * 3. U.S. Withdrawal from the ABM Treaty and GMD Interceptors * E. BMDR REVIEW OF 2010 * F. LISBON (2010) AND CHICAGO (2012) SUMMIT * G. ORIGINS OF THE EUROPEAN PHASED ADAPTIVE APPROACH * 1. EPAA Phase 1 * 2. EPAA Phase 2 * 3. EPAA Phase 3 * 4. EPAA Phase 4 * H. CONCLUSION * III. NATO RESPONSE TO THE EUROPEAN PHASED ADAPTIVE APPROACH * A. BUDGET CRITIQUE OF THE EPAA * B. TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES * C. ALLIANCE RESPONSE TO EPAA * 1. Opinion Surveys in Poland and Czech Republic * 2. Polish View on Missile Defense * 3. Canadian View on Missile Defense * 4. Turkish View on Missile Defense * 5. NATO Allies Collective View * D. AMERICAN VIEWS ON MISSILE DEFENSE IN EUROPE * E. ANALYSIS * F. CONCLUSION * IV. RUSSIAN RESPONSES TO U.S. AND ALLIED MISSILE DEFENSE * A. BACKGROUND ON RUSSIAN MISSILE POLICY * B. HISTORY OF RUSSIA, NATO, AND U.S. INTERACTION * 1. Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty * 2. Lisbon Summit (November 2010) * 3. Chicago Summit (May 2012) * 4. NATO-Russia Missile Defense Cooperation Suspended (April 2014) * C. RUSSIAN ARGUMENT ON STRATEGIC DETERRENCE * D. RUSSIAN ARGUMENT ON U.S. GLOBAL AMBITION * E. NATO RESPONSE TO RUSSIA AND JOINT MISSILE DEFENCE * F. U.S. RESPONSE TO COOPERATIVE MISSILE DEFENCE * G. NATO-RUSSIAN JOINT MISSILE DEFENSE CONTRIBUTION * H. ANALYSIS * I. CONCLUSION * V. CONCLUSION * A. SUMMARY * 1. Chapter II * 2. Chapter III * 3. Chapter IV * B. ANALYSIS * 1. NATO Considerations * 2. Russian Considerations * C. RECOMMENDATIONS * D. FINAL REFLECTIONS
Download or read book Russian Foreign Policy toward Missile Defense written by Bilyana Lilly and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2014-08-21 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is devoted to one of the central issues in U.S.-Russian and NATO-Russian relations—ballistic missile defense. Drawing on more than 2,000 primary sources, interviews with Russian and NATO officials, and a variety of Russian and Western publications, this book offers an unparalleled, in-depth analysis of the reasons behind Russia’s policy towards the construction of a U.S ballistic missile defense in Europe. It provides a critical assessment of the decision-making mechanisms that shape Russia’s position on ballistic missile defense, as well as Russia’s strategic relations with the United States and Russia’s interaction with European and non-European powers. Lilly argues that contrary to Moscow’s official claims during the Putin era, Russian objections to the construction of ballistic missile defense in Europe have not been wholly dictated by security concerns. To Russia, missile defense is not purely an issue in and of itself, but rather a symbol and instrument of broader political considerations. At the international level, the factors that have shaped Russia’s response include Moscow’s perception of the overall state of U.S.-Russian relations, the Kremlin’s capacity to project influence and power abroad, and NATO’s behavior in the post-Soviet space. Domestically, the issue of missile defense has been a facilitating instrument for strengthening Putin’s regime and justifying military modernization. Taken together, these instrumental considerations and their fluctuating intensity in different periods prompt the Russian leadership to pursue contradictory policy approaches simultaneously. On the one hand, the Kremlin seeks U.S. cooperation, while on the other hand, it threatens retaliation and reinforces Russian offensive capabilities. The result is Moscow’s incoherence, inconsistency, and double-speak over the issue of missile defense.
Download or read book European Missile Defense and Russia written by Keir Giles and published by Department of the Army. This book was released on 2015-05-08 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph examines the history of missile defense and the current dialogue from a Russian perspective, in order to explain the root causes of Russian alarm. Specific recommendations for managing the Russia relationship in the context of missile defense are given. Important conclusions are also drawn for the purpose of managing the dialog over missile defense plans not only with Russia as an opponent, but also with European NATO allies as partners and hosts. The latter are especially significant in the light of these partners' heightened hard security concerns following Russian annexation of Crimea and continuing hostile moves against Ukraine. This analysis was completed before the start of Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014, but already warned of the prospect of direct military action by Russia in Europe in order to protect Moscow's self-perceived interests. This text is strongly recommended to policymakers contributing not only to missile defense planning, but also to any aspect of policy affecting the defense of Europe. Political scientists, historians, military leaders and personnel, as well as strategic policy analysts, and the intelligence community may be interested in this work. Students conducting research on the history of the U.S. missile defense program as it relates to Russia for term paper assignments may be interested in this volume. Related products: Russian Ballistic Missile Defense: Rhetoric and Reality is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01163-0 Russian Military Transformation: Goal in Sight? is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01110-9 Another Brick in the Wall: The Israeli Experience in Missile Defense can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01138-9 NATO Cyberspace Capability: A Strategic and Operational Evolution is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01110-9 Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, Volume XXVI, Arms Control and Nonproliferation is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/044-000-02673-2
Download or read book Long Range Ballistic Missile Defense in Europe written by Steven A. Hildreth and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report discusses how successive U.S. governments have urged the creation of an anti-missile system to protect against long-range ballistic missile threats from adversary states. The proposed U.S. system has encountered resistance in some European countries and beyond.
Download or read book Defending Putin s Empire written by Mihajlo S Mihajlović and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2023-11-15 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compiled from various sources, some still classified, and many of which have never previously been published, this book clearly portrays the development of the Russian air and ballistic missile defense systems. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union invested heavily in its air defense systems. As a result, Russia now possesses the most advanced air and ballistic missile defense systems in the world. Russian air defense systems are also highly proliferated and are currently in use by many countries. Since the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the USSR, it has become increasingly possible to study Russian air defense, but Russia is by no means an open book on defense-related subjects. Some information circulates in the media, but for the time being, air defense systems are still subject to a degree of speculation. Air and ballistic missile defense programs in the Soviet Union and Russia have a very long history. Soviet engineers started working on both programs in the 1950s, and by 1960 they had built the first successful systems able to intercept enemy aircraft and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Current Russian air defense doctrine follows a layered multi-level approach providing in depth coverage from any aerial or ballistic missile attack. This layered system allows Russian air defense forces to create zones that can be very difficult to penetrate. The highest level of these defensive networks uses long-range systems providing air defense umbrellas potentially up to 500+ km. The second level includes medium-range systems like the S-350 and Buk variants (infamous for downing Malaysian Airline’s flight MH17 over the Ukraine in 2014). This medium-range level is intended to provide air defense zones which are also covered under the long-range systems but are more cost-effective in this envelope. The third level presents mobile short-range systems which are intended to provide extra protection for the long-range systems as well as stationary objects. These systems, along with highly mobile systems like the Buk are often also attached to ground forces formations such as armored and mechanized divisions and brigades. What are the abilities of these systems against NATO? President Putin emphasized the need to strengthen the country’s air defenses amid NATO’s military activities near Russia’s borders. One of the key new concept developments is counter-stealth detection and interception. The other is to counter future hypersonic missile threats. It is, as the author reveals, Russia that is leading the way in these races.
Download or read book Soviet Ballistic Missile Defense and the Western Alliance written by David Scott Yost and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yost suggests that the challenges for Western policy posed by Soviet ballistic missile defense (BMD) programs stem partly from Soviet military programs, Soviet arms control policies, and Soviet public diplomacy campaigns, and partly from the West's own intra-alliance disagreements and lack of consensus about Western security requirements.
Download or read book Shield of Dreams written by Stephen J. Cimbala and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the implications of deploying missile defences by the United States and Russia within the current and next decades. Noting that U.S. plans to locate parts of the global ballistic missile defence system in eastern Europe contributed to a deterioration in U.S.-Russian relations, Cimbala discusses how a post-Bush/post-Putin era could open the door either to improved detente or increased acrimony over such issues as missile defences and NATO enlargement, the fate of the CFE and INF treaties, and U.S. hegemony in world politics.
Download or read book Ballistic Missile Defense written by Ashton B. Carter and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defense against nuclear attack—so natural and seemingly so compelling a goal—has provoked debate for at least twenty years. Ballistic missle defense systems, formerly called antiballistic missile systems, offer the prospect of remedying both superpowers' alarming vulnerability to nuclear weapons by technological rather than political means. But whether ballistic missile defenses can be made to work and whether it is wise to build them remain controversial. The U.S.-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 restricts testing and deployment of ballistic missile defenses but has not prohibited more than a decade of research and development on both sides. As exotic new proposals are put forward for space-based directed-energy systems, questions about the effectiveness and wisdom of missile defense have again become central to the national debate on defense policy. This study, jointly sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, examines the strategic, technological, and political issues raised by ballistic missile defense. Eight contributors take an analytical approach to their areas of expertise, which include the relationship of missile defense to nuclear strategy, the nature and potential applications of current and future technologies, the views on missile defense in the Soviet Union and among the smaller nuclear powers, the meaning of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty for today's technology, and the present role and historical legacy of ballistic missile defense in the context of East-West relations. The volume editors give a comprehensive introduction to this wide range of subjects and an assessment of future prospects. In the final chapter, nine knowledgeable observers offer their varied personal views on the ballistic missile defense question.
Download or read book Russian Ballistic Missile Defense written by Keir Giles and published by Department of the Army. This book was released on 2015-06 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Russia's actions in Ukraine are not the only challenge to relations with the United States. U.S. plans for ballistic missile defense (BMD) capability in Europe have led to aggressive rhetoric from Moscow, which continues at the time of this writing even though attention in the West is focused almost exclusively on Ukraine. Russia's strenuous opposition to the U.S. European Phased Adaptive Approach plans is based on claims that this capability is intended to compromise Russia's nuclear deterrent capability. Most of these claims have been dismissed as groundless. Yet, all discussion of the subject highlights the U.S. current and proposed deployments, and entirely ignores Russia's own missile interception systems, which are claimed to have comparable capability. Russia protests that U.S. missiles pose a potential threat to strategic stability, and has made belligerent threats of direct military action to prevent their deployment. But no mention at all is made of the strategic implications of Russia's own systems, despite the fact that if the performance and capabilities claimed for them by Russian sources are accurate, they pose at least as great a threat to deterrence as do those of the United States. This monograph aims to describe Russia's claims for its missile defense systems, and, where possible, to assess the likelihood that these claims are true. This will form a basis for considering whether discussion of Russian capabilities should be an integral part of future conversations with Russia on the deployment of U.S. and allied BMD ( Ballistic Missile Defense) assets. Related products: European Missile Defense and Russia can be found at this link: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01109-5 Another Brick in the Wall: The Israeli Experience in Missile Defense can be found at this link: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01138-9 Democratization and Instability in Ukraine, Georgia, and Belarus can be found at this link: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01118-4
Download or read book Reassuring Russia on BMD written by Mark R. Fegley and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The United States' Ballistic Missile Defense comprehensive strategy states that the United States homeland missile defense capabilities are not focused on Russia, are not intended to affect the strategic balance with them, and are not of sufficient capacity to deal with Russian large scale attacks. However, Russia sees the United States' expansion of international efforts and cooperation on missile defense as a contentious issue. Of note, Russia has a strong disagreement with the United States about the extent of Iran's nuclear program, interprets the U.S. strategy as unilateral, is concerned over the degradation of their second strike capability, and is concerned with the U.S. and NATO eastward encroachment into their sphere of influence. Reflecting Russia's concerns over the U.S. ballistic missile defense strategy, Russia's President announced his State Armament Program 2020 which increases spending on next generation missiles and countermeasures as well as strategic missile troops and aerospace defense forces. Ultimately, this counter response risks triggering regional conflict, crisis instability, and a new arms race. To hand off these outcomes, this paper proposes cooperative actions the U.S. should take to ease Russia's threat perception to include declarations of openness, Russian participation in NATO missile defense summits, development of a joint threat assessment, sharing of early warning data, instituting a cooperative command and control for ballistic missile intercepts, and developing a joint NATO-Russia training program."--Abstract.
Download or read book The Soviet Union and Ballistic Missile Defense written by Jacquelyn K. Davis and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Reassuring Russia on BMD Reaction to Putin s Armament Program 2020 Proposals for Cooperative Actions the U S Should Take to Ease Russia s Threat Perception Including Sharing of Early Warning Data written by U S Military and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-07-26 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States' Ballistic Missile Defense comprehensive strategy states that the United States homeland missile defense capabilities are not focused on Russia, are not intended to affect the strategic balance with them, and are not of sufficient capacity to deal with Russian large scale attacks. However, Russia sees the United States' expansion of international efforts and cooperation on missile defense as a contentious issue. Of note, Russia has a strong disagreement with the United States about the extent of Iran's nuclear program, interprets the U.S. strategy as unilateral, is concerned over the degradation of their second strike capability, and is concerned with the U.S. and NATO eastward encroachment into their sphere of influence. Reflecting Russia's concerns over the U.S. ballistic missile defense strategy, Russia's President announced his State Armament Program 2020 which increases spending on next generation missiles and countermeasures as well as strategic missile troops and aerospace defense forces. Ultimately, this counter response risks triggering regional conflict, crisis instability, and a new arms race. To hand off these outcomes, this paper proposes cooperative actions the U.S. should take to ease Russia's threat perception to include declarations of openness, Russian participation in NATO missile defense summits, development of a joint threat assessment, sharing of early warning data, instituting a cooperative command and control for ballistic missile intercepts, and developing a joint NATO-Russia training program.This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.The United States' Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) comprehensive strategy is outlined in the nation's Ballistic Missile Defense Review (BMDR) of 2010 which states that the United States' homeland missile defense capabilities are not focused on Russia, are not intended to affect the strategic balance with them, and are not of sufficient capacity to deal with Russian large scale attacks. The review further states that the intent of the missile defense system is to defend the homeland against limited ballistic missile attack from "states acquiring nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in contravention of international norms and in defiance of the international community". However, Russia sees the United States' expansion of international efforts and cooperation on missile defense differently. A Russian news review sums up the Russian concerns, "Russian foreign minister Lavrov said Russia's agreement to discuss cooperation on missile defense in the NATO-Russia Council does not mean that Moscow agrees to the NATO projects which are being developed without Russia's participation. The minister said the fulfillment of the third and fourth phases of the U.S. 'adaptive approach' will enter a strategic level threatening the efficiency of Russia's nuclear containment forces."This research paper argues that the effective employment of BMD system provides a strategic value to the United States and NATO, but at the same time is a perceived threat to Russia. Since there is value to pursuing BMD, this paper provides recommendations to address Russian concerns. The remainder of this paper unfolds in four parts. The next section discusses the adversaries that the U.S. BMD system is developed to defeat. Then the capabilities and employment of the U.S. BMD system are explained. Once this foundation is laid, the discussion moves to an analysis of how Russia views the U.S. BMD system and what their response has been. Finally, the paper concludes with recommendations to alleviate Russian concerns on the employment of the U.S. BMD system.
Download or read book NATO Missile Defense and the European Phased Adaptive Approach written by Steven J. Whitmore and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2010, NATO decided to expand its ballistic missile defense program, in part because of the American offer to include its European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) as the centerpiece of an expanded effort. For the Allies' part, few have actually contributed tangible ballistic missile defense assets, in terms of missile interceptors, radars or other sensors, or ballistic missile defense-related platforms. This is likely to have significant implications for the U.S. Army, which has an important but largely underappreciated role in NATO missile defense today. In particular, the Army is likely to face increased manpower demands, materiel requirements, and training needs in order to meet the demand signal created by the NATO ballistic missile defense program. Additionally, Army units involved directly in or in support of ballistic missile defense are likely to face a higher OPTEMPO than currently projected. Ultimately, this will exacerbate the perceived imbalance in transatlantic burden-sharing, particularly if the EPAA provides little, if any, benefit to the defense of U.S. territory, given Washington's decision to cancel Phase 4 of that framework.
Download or read book European Missile Defense and Russia written by U. S. Army U.S. Army War College Press and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-01-02 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When U.S. President Barack Obama cancelled a scheduled September 2013 summit meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, "lack of progress on issues such as missile defense" was cited as the primary justification. Despite widespread and well founded assumption that the real trigger for the cancellation was the Russian decision to offer temporary asylum to Edward Snowden, the citing of missile defense was indicative. The comment marked one of the periodic plateaus of mutual frustration between the United States and Russia over U.S. attitudes to missile defense capability, stemming from a continued failure to achieve meaningful dialogue over U.S. plans and Russian fears. Russia's vehement objections to U.S. plans for missile defense installations in Europe, and the range of unfriendly actions promised in response, are often portrayed as irrational, the arguments technically flawed, the behavior deliberately obstructive, and the underlying threat perception hopelessly out of date. Yet an examination of the missile defense relationship between Russia and the United States over time shows that the fundamental Russian concerns stem from ideas of state security which, while discounted elsewhere, remain valid in the Russian security calculus. The fundamentally different weight and importance attached by Russia to nuclear weapons as both a guarantee and a symbol of statehood can be challenging for U.S. observers to grasp, but it is critical to understanding those Russian statements that do not, at first sight, make rational sense to U.S. policymakers. Furthermore, while the current Russian proposals for compromise-at least those stated in public-are wholly unrealistic, bear in mind that some of the security considerations behind them, at various times, have been both shared and voiced by the United States. This book will examine the historical precedents for the current missile defense impasse, in order to explain the Russian attitude, and draw conclusions about both the most recent developments in the conversation between the United States and Russia and its likely further progress and prospects, if any, for a resolution.
Download or read book Russian Nuclear Weapons written by Stephen Blank and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents several essays analyzing Russia's extensive nuclear agenda and the issues connected with it. It deals with strategy, doctrine, European, Eurasian, and East Asian security agendas, as well as the central U.S.-Russia nuclear and arms control equations. This work brings together American, European, and Russian analysts to discuss Russia's defense and conventional forces reforms and their impact on nuclear forces, doctrine, strategy, and the critical issues of Russian security policies toward the United States, Europe, and China. It also deals directly with the present and future roles of nuclear weapons in Russian defense policy and strategy.
Download or read book Ballistic Missile Defense and Offensive Arms Reductions written by Steven A. Hildreth and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ballistic missile defenses (BMD) have been an issue in U.S.-Soviet and U.S.-Russian arms control talks since the 1970s. During the Cold War, the nations sought to balance limits on offensive weapons and defensive weapons so that they could maintain ¿strategic stability,¿ which refers to the ability of each side to launch a retaliatory strike after absorbing a first strike by the other side. Contents of this report: (1) Intro.; (2) Strategic Stability and the Relationship Between Offensive and Defensive Forces; (3) BMD and the 1991 START Treaty: The Negotiating Framework; START Ratification; Resolving Competing Priorities; BMD Programs and Budgets; BMD in the 1980s, and 1990s; Current BMD Plans and Programs; (4) BMD Budgets Over Time.
