ABM systems have an interesting history. We've had active ABM sites on US soil before. The Nike system was a very large system, as a kid I remember seeing the old Nike sights and their silos. Eventually as ICBM/SLBM forces of each side grew, and then later MIRV'ed warheads and decoys were used, the entire ballistic missile defense mechanism became unwieldy and a waste of money. There was just no point in spending all that money on missile defense when the entire idea of surviving nuclear strike became fantasy.
The Soviet system is a relic of the '70s and the SALT-ll agreements, in which it was agreed that both us us could operate one system on two sights. This was later changed to one sight apiece. We Yanks had the Safeguard system operational for a short time at Grand Forks AFB but disabled it when it became apparent it was a waste of money. The Soviets still have their one system operational around Moscow.
We now have 3 ABM systems operational or shortly operational. Two of them are theatre capable systems, THAAD, and Airborne Laser. I guess you can say we have a third in the Navys AEGEUS/Standard-lll system. And of course we have the one strategic ABM system in Alaska that is operational.
When I was guarding Americas special weapons capability it was a far different ballgame then today. Back then, '70s, our nuclear forces were HUGE, far bigger then today. We had hundreds of B-52s on hot alert pads loaded with nuclear weapons. We had three different ICBM systems operational. We had a huge deployment of special weapons at overseas bases. Including both theatre ballistic missiles and gravity bombs. And the entire force was on tripwire which meant it only took one call from the President to send the things flying within seconds and minutes. For those of you to young to have lived thru the height of the cold war be glad you missed it.
This Russian ABM system was no surprise or great secret. It was actually agreed upon in the SALT talks. And no matter what the future brings due to disagreements over ABM systems it will be a drop in the pond to what we lived thru in the '60s,'70s, and '80s.
