Overview
The US Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) is remembered as a controversial project proposed by President Ronald Reagan to create a space-based missile defence programme. But what were its long-term consequences for space security? How did this programme bring us to where we are today, with growing counterspace capabilities and great power competition in outer space? And what does it say about the future of space security?
Dr Bateman will reflect on the evolution of space-based missile defence, with a focus on the implications of this technology for strategic stability as well as the transatlantic alliance.
About the Speaker
Dr Aaron Bateman is Assistant Professor of History and International Affairs at George Washington University. He studies how technology shaped US foreign policy, defence strategy, alliance dynamics, and superpower competition in the Cold War. His book, Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative (MIT Press, May 2024), is an award-winning international history of the SDI.
Joining Instructions
This event is open to all members and will take place at RUSI, 61 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET. If you have any questions regarding this event, please email [email protected].
