What was the Strategic Defense Initiative?

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The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as the "Star Wars" program, was a proposed missile defense system developed by the United States during the Cold War. The goal of SDI was to create a space-based system that could protect the United States from nuclear missile attacks by intercepting and destroying enemy missiles in space before they reached their targets. The program was first announced by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and was met with significant controversy and criticism from the Soviet Union and many within the scientific community. Ultimately, the SDI program was scaled back and never fully realized, but it did pave the way for the development of subsequent missile defense systems.