By Jeremy Sandoval The Start of SDI l

By Jeremy Sandoval

The Start of (SDI) l l The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposal by U. S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic offense doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD).

the research and technologies of SDI paved the way for some anti-ballistic missile systems of today. l It gained the popular name Star Wars after the 1977 film by George Lucas l

Extended Range Interceptor (ERINT) l Under the administration of President Bill Clinton in 1993, its name was changed to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO)

Extended Range Interceptor (ERINT) l The Extended Range Interceptor (ERINT) program was part of SDI's Theater Missile Defense Program and was an extension of the Flexible Lightweight Agile Guided Experiment (FLAGE), which included developing hit-to-kill technology and demonstrating the guidance accuracy of a small, agile, radarhoming vehicle.

Homing Overlay Experiment The Homing Overlay Experiment (HOE) was the first system tested by the Army that employed hit-to-kill. l The Homing Overlay Experiment (HOE) was the first successful hit-to-kill intercept of a mock ballistic missile warhead outside the Earth’s atmosphere. l