EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or Star Wars) program was developed in the US in the 1980s with the aim of providing a hermetic defense against Soviet intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles. SDI did not reach final implementation and was canceled in 1993. It nevertheless created a basis for the development of a multi-layered theater defense against ballistic missiles. That defense was realized by Israel in its development of the Arrow ballistic missile interceptor system and other systems to defend against rockets and short-range missiles.
