ABSTRACT
The Soviet Union appears to be relatively far along in specifying the architecture of its strategic defense system, in developing the technologies that will undergird that system, and in deploying some of its elements. The Soviets understand the advantages of layered defenses and the problems of effective battle management. However, all this activity is but a part of a larger effort that envisions a full range of military operations in space, an effort that will seek to provide the Soviets supremacy in that vital theatre and one that has been underway for at least two decades.
