theatre missile defense

theatre missile defense (TMD), deployment of nuclear and conventional missiles for the purpose of maintaining security in a specific region, or theatre. The purpose of theatre missile defense (TMD) is to protect allies from local threats in their region or to address specific security issues and enable credibility in addressing particular threats.

TMD refers primarily to defensive antiballistic missile systems. At the turn of the 21st century, the United States’s Patriot missile, designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles before they strike their intended targets, was the best-known example of such a system. During the Persian Gulf War (1990–91), the Patriot was employed for TMD in Israel and Saudi Arabia to counter the threat of Iraqi Scud missiles. (Although initial assessments suggested that Patriot missiles were highly effective, later analyses cast doubt on the number of incoming Iraqi missiles actually destroyed by Patriots.)

During the Cold War a benefit attributed to TMD was its ability to decrease the likelihood of global nuclear war, although that argument was (and remains) speculative. One premise of TMD is that limited, winnable nuclear war is possible; that premise, in turn, assumes the existence of appropriate strategies to account for such an outcome. That disarmament talks throughout the Cold War were focused primarily on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) reflected the perceived role of TMD within nuclear strategy. ICBMs, along with intermediate ballistic missiles, differ in terms of their range—rather than their destructive power—and thus in terms of their strategic applicability.

Aside from ballistic missiles positioned on allied territory, tactical nuclear weapons were another element of theatre strategy that was particularly important during the Cold War. Tactical nuclear weapons, which were designed for attacking forces in close quarters, do not have intercontinental range and may consist of long-range to battlefield nuclear weapons, such as land mines, bombs, and artillery shells. That aspect of TMD in western Europe was of great concern throughout the Cold War, because the United States recognized the vast superiority of Soviet ground forces.

A noted disadvantage of TMD that relies on tactical nuclear weapons is that it requires the placement of nuclear weapons on foreign, allied soil. The weapons can then become a visible target for antinuclear protesters, as happened during the Cold War in Europe. German belief that East and West Germany would likely be ground zero in the event of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union was a particular catalyst for antinuclear sentiment there. With the end of the Cold War, the centre of theatre defense shifted away from western Europe to other regions, where similar sentiments also emerged.