Editing Mutual assured destruction (section)

=== ABMs threaten MAD ===
{{main|Anti-ballistic missile}}
{{See also|Strategic Defense Initiative}}
In the 1960s both the Soviet Union ([[A-35 anti-ballistic missile system]]) and the United States ([[LIM-49 Nike Zeus]]) developed anti-ballistic missile systems. Had such systems been able to effectively defend against a retaliatory [[second strike]], MAD would have been undermined. However, multiple scientific studies showed technological and logistical problems in these systems, including the inability to distinguish between real and decoy weapons.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=HSIN|first=HONOR|date=2003|title=Episode II: US Ballistic Missile Defense|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43648994|journal=Harvard International Review|volume=25|issue=3|pages=15–16|jstor=43648994|issn=0739-1854}}</ref>