[elbucko]

WHAT ANTI-MISSILE DEFENSE?

The last missile defense system protecting the Continental USA was the Nike Hercules. It was entirely dismantled in 1975. Nothing took its place. Nothing. We're on our own.

[Rca2000]

You're part right. The ABM missile system, using stand-off blasts from 5 meg warheads exoatmospheric(meaning out of the atmosphere)and small, ER-type("neutron bomb") endoatmospheric interceptors was dismantled in 1975. The idea was to burst the big warhead in the path of a bunch of RV's from incoming Missiles, and knock them out , still in space, before reentry. Some of the RV's , would evade the blasts, and so the Smaller missiles with the ER warheads would burst inside of the atmosphere, at high altitude, to knock out RV"s that penetrated the atmosphere,before they reached the target area.

Democrats, listening to envoromental and anti-nuclear groups, however, fought the system from the beginning, and it was successfully dismantled, only 1 day after becomming operational!!

However, the missiles were called Spartans(exo') and Sprints(endo's) Look up the Sprint launch. It is fascinating to see, it is FAST!!!(had to be, to intercept an RV that had made it through reentry.)