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Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

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BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE<br />

Radar<br />

Intercep<strong>to</strong>r<br />

Shelter<br />

Figure 86. Low altitude defense system (LoADS). The low altitude defense<br />

system was a mobile underground ABM system designed <strong>to</strong> protect<br />

American missile fields. Neither the missile field (Multiple Protective<br />

Shelter) nor LoADS was built. (Reprinted from Office <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />

Assessment.)<br />

The Strategic Defense Initiative: Star Wars<br />

On 23 March 1983, President Reagan delivered probably his<br />

most memorable speech and one <strong>of</strong> the country’s more significant<br />

presidential speeches, certainly in defense matters, in a<br />

number <strong>of</strong> decades. 49 The president called for new strategic defense<br />

thinking and a shift from a policy <strong>of</strong> nuclear deterrence <strong>to</strong><br />

one <strong>of</strong> defense. Unlike those who pushed for a diplomatic solution<br />

<strong>to</strong> the problems <strong>of</strong> nuclear weapons and superpower rivalry,<br />

Reagan sought a technical solution. In his words, “Wouldn’t it be<br />

better <strong>to</strong> save lives than <strong>to</strong> avenge them?” He put forward a new<br />

197

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