"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger a nd are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
-Dwight D. Eisenhower
Star Wars and Strategic Defence Initiative
•The Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) - Also known as “Star Wars”; wanted to have a defensive umbrella over the U.S. to shoot down incoming missiles from space
•Soviets could not afford to keep up with this kind of science
•The arms race would not fizzle out until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR in 1985
•Soviets could not afford to keep up with this kind of science
•The arms race would not fizzle out until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR in 1985
Arms Race
•The USSR had a 3:2 advantage in sheer numbers
•New issue is how to deliver them
•Cruise missiles are placed in Europe by NATO
•‘Smart Weapons’ - planes, weapons and even tanks begin to be controlled by computer and are ‘guided’
-New Technology
-Reagan-omics - was to outspend the Soviet
•New issue is how to deliver them
•Cruise missiles are placed in Europe by NATO
•‘Smart Weapons’ - planes, weapons and even tanks begin to be controlled by computer and are ‘guided’
-New Technology
-Reagan-omics - was to outspend the Soviet
Summary
As the arms race heated up between the US and the USSR, the need for defence became important. The US developed the Strategic Defence Initiative to shoot down oncoming missiles from space. At this period of time, smart weapons like guided planes were quickly advancing.