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Asked by: Jay Botbol
business and finance defense industryWhat happened to Reagan's Star Wars program?
Last Updated: 13th April, 2020
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Similarly one may ask, what was Reagan's Star Wars program?
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star Wars, was a program first initiated on March 23, 1983 under President Ronald Reagan. The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union.
Secondly, how much did Reagan spend on Star Wars? The ambitious and costly program, dubbed “Star Wars,” is now in its fourth decade, having consumed $209 billion while never being tested, even on a limited scale, in the heat of battle.
In this way, did the Star Wars program work?
It didn't help that, in order for Reagan's missile defense system to work, it would have to destroy Soviet missiles as they orbited the Earth -- an incredibly difficult task that would require putting weapons in space -- earning Reagan's initiative the name "Star Wars." (In case you're wondering, the Missile Defense
How much did the Strategic Defense Initiative cost?
27) reports a Council on Economic Priorities study of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, which estimates the final cost of a United States space defense system at $400 billion to $800 billion.