Putting this in the Bar...
Project DEFENDER was ARPA decade long effort (1958-1968) that ultimately led to Safeguard and Sentinel, passed to the US Army in 1968 for operational deployment.
...but those were ground-based interceptors: Nike-X ABM development of SAMs.
Bar the Nike ground-based interceptors, ARPA from 1958 went all out and whacked their brains over that simple question "how to shoot ICBMs".
Bar Sentinel / Safeguard, three more solutions later found their way into Reagan SDI
- kinetic interceptors (= Brilliant Pebbles)
- lasers
- particle-beam weapons
All three were studied by Project DEFENDER right from 1958 but 1960's technology state of the art meant, they had to wait two decades or even more.
Yet ARPA did not stopped at these four ABM technologies. In 1958-1962 there was an even broader program called GLIPAR - "Guide line Identification Program for AntiMissile Research"
And you guess, through GLIPAR, ARPA reviewed even the most crazy, esoteric ABM systems. Heck, they even hired Isaac Asimov for the job !
www.technologyreview.com
Now, back to John Osterman / Dr. Manhattan. According to the wiki, the transformation happened between August 20, 1959 and December 1959.
watchmen.fandom.com
So I can't help thinking that, in the Watchmen timeline, ARPA reviewed Dr Manhattan superpowers as part of GLIPAR and, TADAAAM - he instantly solved the ABM issue all by himself. Who needs DEFENDER, SENTINEL or Reagan's SDI when there is a glowing blue naked guy with god-like powers ?
(GLIPAR web searches below)
Project DEFENDER was ARPA decade long effort (1958-1968) that ultimately led to Safeguard and Sentinel, passed to the US Army in 1968 for operational deployment.
...but those were ground-based interceptors: Nike-X ABM development of SAMs.
Bar the Nike ground-based interceptors, ARPA from 1958 went all out and whacked their brains over that simple question "how to shoot ICBMs".
Bar Sentinel / Safeguard, three more solutions later found their way into Reagan SDI
- kinetic interceptors (= Brilliant Pebbles)
- lasers
- particle-beam weapons
All three were studied by Project DEFENDER right from 1958 but 1960's technology state of the art meant, they had to wait two decades or even more.
Yet ARPA did not stopped at these four ABM technologies. In 1958-1962 there was an even broader program called GLIPAR - "Guide line Identification Program for AntiMissile Research"
And you guess, through GLIPAR, ARPA reviewed even the most crazy, esoteric ABM systems. Heck, they even hired Isaac Asimov for the job !
Isaac Asimov Asks, “How Do People Get New Ideas?”
A 1959 Essay by Isaac Asimov on Creativity
Now, back to John Osterman / Dr. Manhattan. According to the wiki, the transformation happened between August 20, 1959 and December 1959.
Jon Osterman
For the other versions and connections of Jon Osterman, see Doctor Manhattan (disambiguation). "Thermodynamic miracles... events with odds against so astronomical they're effectively impossible, like oxygen spontaneously becoming gold. I long to observe such a thing. And yet, in each human...
So I can't help thinking that, in the Watchmen timeline, ARPA reviewed Dr Manhattan superpowers as part of GLIPAR and, TADAAAM - he instantly solved the ABM issue all by himself. Who needs DEFENDER, SENTINEL or Reagan's SDI when there is a glowing blue naked guy with god-like powers ?
(GLIPAR web searches below)