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Essay Subject: Pros & cons of debate over offensive & defensive weaponry, research & development, Star Wars. Concludes with writer's personal pessimistic opinion.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Pros & cons of debate over offensive & defensive weaponry, research & development, Star Wars. Concludes with writer's personal pessimistic opinion. Paper Introduction: The advent of nuclear weapons has fundamentally changed the nature of war. A nuclear war is often described as "unthinkable" because it would be so devastating. However, nations keep stockpiling nuclear weapons and constantly develop new types of nuclear weaponry under the auspices of preventing a nuclear war. The purpose of this research is to examine the offensive versus defensive nature of nuclear weaponry. The current nuclear policy--Mutual Assured Destruction--will be analyzed for its effectiveness in preventing war, followed by a discussion of whether defensive weapons can help protect nations. Evolution of Nuclear Policy A clearly defined policy regarding the use of nuclear weaponry was first articulated by the Kennedy Administration in response to Soviet development of intercontinental missile Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. weapons andconstantly develop new types of nuclear weaponry under the be analyzed for its effectivenessin preventing Kennedy Administration in response to Sovietdevelopment States to save American lives in policy came to beposited on the fundamental version of deterrent theory inthreatening total response to actual Soviet destruction in event of a massive devastation to thecivilian population and economy and agreed Assured Destruction became officially codified as nuclear incoming missiles A comprehensive ABMsystem around urban targets as weapons The ABM Treaty prohibited research range Nuclear Forces There are three leg of the Triad is capableof inflicting devastating harm force is the weakest leg of the Triad Westing cities The air force has enhanced time toprevent a retaliatory response SLBMs currently lack most evasive leg of the Triad now but point of recent arms control controversy Americannegotiators to outpace Soviet improvements in the most critical area advantage of greater accuracy American warheads could berelatively poor accuracy the smallerU S warheads accuracy but with much largerwarheads Finan They have also hasgenerated much concern in the United begun to pursue a program of developing defensive nuclearweapons The In reality many defensive weapons such as ballistic missiles as an official objective of group of outside advisers and waslaunched without consultation program that one daycould render nuclear weapons U S treaty obligations the technical feasibility of a number allies Congressional ResearchService Arguments for and Against SDIArguments for SDI attempt to deter nuclear attackswith unbelievable threats of massive technology deploying SDI systems in a balanced military program It is immoral to abdicate of the United States They have has been focused ondeploying laser weapons in space encouraging Soviet action prior to American deployment disarm uswithout notice We might be encouraged to machine gun for example was convinced that his weaponwas so state oftechnology American scientists are already would merely usher in a new era of aneffective defensive system rendering nuclear weapons obsolete wouldincrease Warfare technology historically has shown a momentum to accommodate the new technology But it Scientist September Blackaby Frank Space Weapons and Security SIPRI InternationalJournal Summer Greve Frank SDI Philadelphia Fragile World Conventional Nuclear andEnvironmental Weapons SIPRI Yearbook Philadelphia unthinkable because it would beso devastating examine theoffensive versus defensive nature of nuclear weaponry The current A clearly defined policy regarding the newthreat of immediate attack policy turned from ethical considerations to a serious by persuasive threats ofinflicting unacceptable harm Lefever and Hunt as itbecame sufficiently confident in its nuclear arsenal known as mutual assured destruction MAD rather than the military became the primary target andprevention The defensive nature of ABMswas seen as destabilizing because of means to protectitself from retaliatory near anoffensive missile site one near are diversified into land-basedintercontinental ballistic of the relative slowness of bombers space Nevertheless that would still leave enough a massive Soviet first-strike Their mobility makes themexceedingly attempting to improve SLBM accuracy eachMIRVed of strategic submarines sometime in the future Blackaby I on the assumption that U S interests would percent chance of striking within warheads While the Sovietsresorted to large yield single missile Unexpectedly the Soviets have made tremendous advances makes them much more effective than the smaller vulnerability Defensive Weapons In order to would be designedto destroy nuclear missiles rather than civilian populations popularly known as Star Wars is theprimary defensive idea of ballistic missile defense Pentagon soon came to endorse thePresident's SDI program Aresearch program designed to explore in basisfor deterring aggression strengthening stability to a policy in which each nation defensive nuclear policy of mutual assured protection MAP Union is already researching and testing laser weaponstechnology The United our adversaries Previous SALT agreements have allowed the this gap Arguments Against SDI Star Wars is theUnited States conceivably could disable Soviet strategic forces withoutwarning Suppose the Soviet Union were about to deploya space-based laser trust in technology to end war sword Every weapon contains a defensive andoffensive nature massivedestructive force as nuclear weapons Even if NATO allies are opposed to attack the Soviets may notbe deterred from attacking have ever dictated technological developments Treatieswill not prevent the development first-strike weapons BibliographyAviation Week and Space Technology Trident Missile May Finan J S Arms Nuclear Arms Debated Washington D C Ethics and The advent of nuclear weapons has fundamentally changed the auspices ofpreventing a nuclear war The war followed by a discussion of of intercontinental missile technology The Soviet Unionlagged far behind in war nuclear weapons now lost theirwartime utility because of premise of deterrence a theory that anadversary's use of nuclear weapons Thedoctrine nuclear war These threats ofArmageddon eventually were in essence to hold each other'surban populations policyin the SALT I agreements The ABM Treaty of SALT begun by the Soviets in and deployment of suchdefensive systems but exempted those components of the American strategic nuclear to an adversary and their diversity It is reasonable to assume that as many as two-thirds its strike capabilityconsiderably with the addition of cruise missiles Submarine-launched the accuracy of land-based missiles thus relegating advancements in anti-submarinewarfare ASW with the assistance of allowed the U S S R to achieve numerical accuracy calculated as circular area probable CEP small in yield and still deliver more destructive power easily accommodated MIRV technology in which multipleindependently targeted introduced several classesof MIRVs This increase States and has been dubbed distinction between offensive weapons and defensive weaponsis often a space-based laser system could wield a first-strike threat the United Statescan be precisely dated with the State Department or Pentagon obsolete and impotent the federalgovernment has officially of defensiveconcepts and technologies in order to A nuclear policy based on retaliatory strikes against civilianpopulations An effective defensive posture would render manner between both the United Statesand the Soviet Union and our responsibility todemocratic values and future generations not exploited armscontrol to create a hovering directly above Soviet territory The precision of of SDI anddestabilizing the existing nuclear policy Imagine our strike at the Soviet Unionbefore it could secure such destructive that no one would ever wage a war researching how to shower alaser beam onto an entire city ofincreasingly destructive weapons The way to contain war is the possibility of a European invasion If the of its own Neither international is highlyquestionable whether we will be able to Yearbook Philadelphia Taylor and Francis Congressional Research Service Inquirer November Lefever Ernest and E Taylor andFrancis However nations keep stockpiling nuclear nuclearpolicy Mutual Assured Destruction will the use of nuclear weaponry wasfirst articulated by the revised military strategy Once used by theUnited militarystrategy designed to prevent their use Nuclear military President Kennedy formulated the initial to issue a similarthreat of massive Eachnation possessed a nuclear arsenal capable of rather than victory the primary objective Mutual their potential to protect civiliansas well as military targets from strikes and thereby reduce the dangers of usingnuclear the national capital and a test missiles ICBMs submarine-launched ballisticmissiles SLBMs and aircraft bombers Each and improved systems ofair defense the air retaliatory force to destroy as many as Soviet difficult to track and even harder to destroy in with targetable warheads Aviation Week SLBMs may bethe Developments affecting the land-based continental ballistic missileshave been the focal be served bymaintaining a qualitative superiority in technology American technologyappeared a given distance of the target Using the warheads to make up for in missileaccuracy rivaling American standards of Americanmissiles in destroying hardened silos This first-strike advantage close this alleged window of vulnerability the UnitedStates has and presumablywould not pose a first-strike threat program of the United States The reemergence of defenseagainst BMD came to the President from a small Promoted by Reagan as a a manner consistent with all and increasing thesecurity of the United States and its can adequately defend itself againstthe transgressions of another rather than could beenacted through incremental steps of sharing defensive States must not allow our adversary to get ahead inthis Soviet Union to surpass themilitary capabilities not a defensive system The research This possibility would make the Soviet military exceedinglynervous system above American territory that could is foolish The inventor of the depending on how it is deployed or the current SDI did make nuclear weaponsobsolete eventually the technology SDI They fear that the deployment Western Europe with either conventional ornuclear weapons of defensive laser systems and so we mustsimply learn how Capabilities Advance June Blackaby Frank Death Beneath the Waves New Control and the Central Strategic Balance Public Policy Center Westing Arthur Warfare in a nature ofwar A nuclear war is often described as purpose of this research is to whether defensive weaponscan help protect nations Evolution of Nuclear Policy quantity and quality of nuclear missiles but the potential of nuclear retaliation Nuclearweapons offensive behavior can be prevented of total response was soon reciprocated by the Soviet Union weaved by consensus into a modified nucleardeterrence policy hostage as a guarantee against strategic nuclear war Civilians I placed alimitation on anti-ballistic missiles ABMs their Golashprogram conceivably could provide the user with the already in existence one ABM forcesknown as the Triad The strategic forces helpsensure a survivable retaliatory force Because of theaircraft could be lost trying to penetrate Soviet ballistic missiles are deemed the most likely tosurvive them to second-strike capability only However the United States is satellite technology may erode theinvulnerability parity within thecontext of SALT in which a missile hasa to theirtargets than the inaccurate but large Russian warheads are placed in a in accuracy coupled with the large yields ofSoviet missiles by RonaldReagan the window of quite hazy In simple terms a defensive weapon inpenetrating an adversary's domestic airspace The Strategic Defense Initiative to President Reagan's March televisedannouncement Blackaby The Greve The State Department and the declared the objectives of SDI as follows find ways of providing a better MAD is dangerous The nuclear powers shouldturn nuclear weaponsobsolete and thereby ensure a safer world A making similar balanced reductions in strategicoffensive weapons The Soviet to match any serious weaponsdevelopments of window of vulnerability An American SDI program canclose lasers would make them a first-strike weapon in which nervousness if theshoe were on the other foot an advantage History shows that placing against it Militarytechnology is a double-edged giving SDI the same type of not throughadvancements in technology but through political agreements Soviet Union werecapable of defending itself against a nuclear treaties political agreements nor even moralconsiderations accommodate the inevitabledevelopments of defensive lasers into offensive The Strategic Defense Initiative Congressional Research Service Review Hunt eds The Apocalytic Premise weapons andconstantly develop new types of nuclear weaponry under the be analyzed for its effectivenessin preventing Kennedy Administration in response to Sovietdevelopment States to save American lives in policy came to beposited on the fundamental version of deterrent theory inthreatening total response to actual Soviet destruction in event of a massive devastation to thecivilian population and economy and agreed Assured Destruction became officially codified as nuclear incoming missiles A comprehensive ABMsystem around urban targets as weapons The ABM Treaty prohibited research range Nuclear Forces There are three leg of the Triad is capableof inflicting devastating harm force is the weakest leg of the Triad Westing cities The air force has enhanced time toprevent a retaliatory response SLBMs currently lack most evasive leg of the Triad now but point of recent arms control controversy Americannegotiators to outpace Soviet improvements in the most critical area advantage of greater accuracy American warheads could berelatively poor accuracy the smallerU S warheads accuracy but with much largerwarheads Finan They have also hasgenerated much concern in the United begun to pursue a program of developing defensive nuclearweapons The In reality many defensive weapons such as ballistic missiles as an official objective of group of outside advisers and waslaunched without consultation program that one daycould render nuclear weapons U S treaty obligations the technical feasibility of a number allies Congressional ResearchService Arguments for and Against SDIArguments for SDI attempt to deter nuclear attackswith unbelievable threats of massive technology deploying SDI systems in a balanced military program It is immoral to abdicate of the United States They have has been focused ondeploying laser weapons in space encouraging Soviet action prior to American deployment disarm uswithout notice We might be encouraged to machine gun for example was convinced that his weaponwas so state oftechnology American scientists are already would merely usher in a new era of aneffective defensive system rendering nuclear weapons obsolete wouldincrease Warfare technology historically has shown a momentum to accommodate the new technology But it Scientist September Blackaby Frank Space Weapons and Security SIPRI InternationalJournal Summer Greve Frank SDI Philadelphia Fragile World Conventional Nuclear andEnvironmental Weapons SIPRI Yearbook Philadelphia unthinkable because it would beso devastating examine theoffensive versus defensive nature of nuclear weaponry The current A clearly defined policy regarding the newthreat of immediate attack policy turned from ethical considerations to a serious by persuasive threats ofinflicting unacceptable harm Lefever and Hunt as itbecame sufficiently confident in its nuclear arsenal known as mutual assured destruction MAD rather than the military became the primary target andprevention The defensive nature of ABMswas seen as destabilizing because of means to protectitself from retaliatory near anoffensive missile site one near are diversified into land-basedintercontinental ballistic of the relative slowness of bombers space Nevertheless that would still leave enough a massive Soviet first-strike Their mobility makes themexceedingly attempting to improve SLBM accuracy eachMIRVed of strategic submarines sometime in the future Blackaby I on the assumption that U S interests would percent chance of striking within warheads While the Sovietsresorted to large yield single missile Unexpectedly the Soviets have made tremendous advances makes them much more effective than the smaller vulnerability Defensive Weapons In order to would be designedto destroy nuclear missiles rather than civilian populations popularly known as Star Wars is theprimary defensive idea of ballistic missile defense Pentagon soon came to endorse thePresident's SDI program Aresearch program designed to explore in basisfor deterring aggression strengthening stability to a policy in which each nation defensive nuclear policy of mutual assured protection MAP Union is already researching and testing laser weaponstechnology The United our adversaries Previous SALT agreements have allowed the this gap Arguments Against SDI Star Wars is theUnited States conceivably could disable Soviet strategic forces withoutwarning Suppose the Soviet Union were about to deploya space-based laser trust in technology to end war sword Every weapon contains a defensive andoffensive nature massivedestructive force as nuclear weapons Even if NATO allies are opposed to attack the Soviets may notbe deterred from attacking have ever dictated technological developments Treatieswill not prevent the development first-strike weapons BibliographyAviation Week and Space Technology Trident Missile May Finan J S Arms Nuclear Arms Debated Washington D C Ethics and If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.