Quote:
Originally posted by Superbelt
They didn't completely ignore it, they did make a political stink about it but they did not change military strategy or make any substantial budgetary expendatures based on such a system.
Star Wars didn't matter, they did not accelerate their warhead production because they knew they had enough as it is to get past any missile shield if we could ever get something like that working.
How effective do you think a missile shield can be? Hypothetically, if possible (real Physicists say it isn't) a missile shield can only target so many incoming warheads at once, fire off 20 at different locations simultaneously and some get through. A missile shield would NOT diminish their military preparedness in the slightest.
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If I wanted to write a dissertation about it I would do the necessary footnoting but to respond to your post with minutia,as the only figures you added were missile counts, is overkill. Increased missile production is NOT what they would have done to combat Star Wars. They would have spent money on circumventing the system (check out the technology they developed to combat the GPS systems that US troops used in Iraq). They would have increased spending on missiles launched from subs and the subs required to launch them since the short flight times of missiles launched from the coast would likely have negated the missile shield's impact. There are many things they would have had to do (and I'm sure they did and are still doing them).
As far as effectiveness of a missile shield, no one knows until they actually try it. Not too long ago the "experts" said that something like FedEx could never be accomplished.
Reagan also completely changed the relationship with Russia and the US in the aftermath of the end of the cold war but I guess that was purely coincidence. He offered support to a country we competed against for decades and did it without bitterness. He did it in a believable way that helped Russia's leaders to maintain integrity with their people.
He played his hand very well and came out on top.