ABSTRACT

In March 1983, President Ronald Reagan established the Strategic Defence Initiative [SDI], a research effort to develop the technologies for land- and space-based missile defence. This programme quickly unleashed anxieties about an arms race in space. Superpower military space activities were of significant concern to Britain because they had direct bearing on two key areas of its national security: space-based intelligence collection and the credibility of its nuclear deterrent. This analysis argues that the uses of space for military and intelligence purposes was an essential, though often invisible, aspect of the Anglo-American relationship during the Cold War. Despite the opposition of her senior advisors to SDI, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher maintained that the programme was necessary to stay ahead of the Soviet Union in an intensifying high-technology competition. Rather than opposing the expanded militarisation of space, she believed it required careful management to further British national security interests.

摘要

1983 年 3 月，罗纳德·里根总统建立了战略防御计划 [SDI]，这是一项旨在开发陆基和天基导弹防御技术的研究工作。该计划很快引发了人们对太空军备竞赛的担忧。超级大国的军事太空活动引起了英国的重大关注，因为它们直接关系到其国家安全的两个关键领域：天基情报收集及其核威慑的可信度。该分析认为，将太空用于军事和情报目的是冷战期间英美关系的一个重要方面，尽管通常是不可见的。尽管她的高级顾问反对 SDI，英国首相玛格丽特·撒切尔（Margaret Thatcher）坚持认为，该计划对于在日益激烈的高科技竞争中保持领先于苏联是必要的。她不反对扩大太空军事化，而是认为需要谨慎管理以促进英国的国家安全利益。