Revisiting the Strategic Defense Initiative.
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2023...s%20in%20space.
The Soviets really feared the implications of the SDI (derisively called "Star Wars"). They felt that it would increase tremendously the technological gap between them and the US leading to the possibility of a relatively successful first-strike capability on the part of the US.
It seems SDI is still with us and the Russians and the Chinese are really worried ...they do not have the lift magnitude of a SpaceX. (Post #1 in this thread indicates the huge disparity.)