[riverdawg]

We continued R&D on ABM systems, just not deployment, after the treaty was signed. I did some contract work on this through an ONR fig leaf in the mid70s. It’s fantasy to think that Russia could stop a full-on MIRV attack. They don’t believe it so why should we?

[PIF]

I have no idea what the Russians believe or not about stopping a MIRV attack. Only if the Russians were to attack us, we would need a lead time to deploy any putative defenses - they do not, since there defenses are already deployed.

Further, they are willing to take large casualties, we are not; they have elaborate shelter systems for the populace and full scale underground cities, we have neither.

Belief really does not enter into it. Preparation does.

Will their SA systems actually be able to stop a MIRV attack, will either side’s warheads reliablly detonate - are questions which can only be answered by putting the questions to the test.

We certainly have no SA system to stop a MIRV attack, they may have. Something is better than nothing - we have nothing ... AFAIK.