The 'Star Wars' Plan
East-West relations remained hostile. The arms race was even extended into space. Both superpowers carried out experiments on methods to destroy each other's missiles from space. In 1983, Reagan introduced the Strategic Defence Initiative, known as 'Star Wars', against the possibility of a Soviet missile attack. It was a system that aimed to interrupt foreign missiles by using laser beams that would fire from satellites.
The US 'Star Wars' plan worried the Soviet Union, which also began her own research into 'Star Wars'. This new dimension of the arms race made any future arms limitation talks more difficult.