So any anti ballistic weapon is Star Wars?
A bipartisan comment about it - it didn't matter if it actually worked. Particularly at the time, we had vast tech superiority. If the russkies didn't know how well it worked, that in itself, the uncertainty, upset their military planning. So just announcing it unbalanced them.
And the raw research certainly contributed to the success of our current programs. Even beam based weapons need to be able to hit a fast moving target.
Jon, I've practically given up on domestic news. In 'The Right Stuff', Kesey calls US news 'the victorian gentleman', that decides what's good for us to know. I agree. With the latter anyway
Pete