This paper argues that Britain would be well advised to participate wholeheartedly in these developments, adapting her defence policy to the new circumstances, rather than being stranded with old weapons and old ideas. As the following chapter demonstrates, most of the charges that are levelled against strategic defence are false, misinformed, or misguided. Subsequent sections detail the substantial Soviet effort to develop strategic defences, the rapid technological progress that is being made in the US SDI research programme, and the political popularity of SDI. The conclusion of this paper is that strategic defence has much to offer Britain, that she has much of the technological know-how required to make it a success, and she should begin to carry out her own research in co-operation with the US with a view to deployment within the next two decades.

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