Strategic Defences in the 1990's
Criteria for Deployment
Published in July 1991
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-333-53202-7 (ISBN)
Description
Despite the end of the Cold War, the issue of strategic missile defences will not go away in the 1990s. The Soviet Union will continue to retain thousands of nuclear missiles. Political turmoil may increase the chance of missiles being launched by rogue military leaders without proper political authorization. And Third World leaders are increasingly acquiring nuclear and chemical means of mass destruction as well as the ballistic missiles to carry them over long distances. Some have argued that these developments render the deployment of strategic defences more important than ever. This book evaluates this claim. It develops strategic, technical, and economic criteria for judging the value of deploying strategic defences. A detailed analysis of three specific strategic defence deployment options reveals that the deployment of strategic defences in the 1990s is unlikely to be strategically desirable, technically feasible, or economically affordable.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Basingstoke
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
tables, figures, notes, index
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 148 mm
Weight
350 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-333-53202-7 (9780333532027)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/1991
Palgrave Macmillan
€62.99
Available for download
Content
Part 1 Deployment criteria for strategic defences: strategic desirability - deterrence, strategic stability, arms control; technical feasibility - effectiveness, survivability; economic affordability - opportunity costs, cost-effectiveness in relation to alternative, cost-effectiveness at the margin. Part 2 An accidental launch protection system: evaluation - strategic desirability, technical feasibility, economic affordability. Part 3 A ground-based defence of military targets: evaluation - strategic desirability, the impact of US ground-based defences on deterrence, the impact of mutual ground-based defences on deterrence, the impact of ground-based defences on stability and arms control; technical feasibility; economic affordability. Part 4 A phase-one strategic defence system: strategic desirability - the impact of a phase-1 defence on deterrence, the impact of a phase-1 defence on strategic stability, the impact of a phase-1 defence on arms control. Part 5 Strategic defence research in the 1990s.