And, when Reagan first proposed “Star Wars”, many folks pointed out the it violated an existing Treaty. (If the Treaty is still in force, our flouting of it is likely tolerated because it’s just so much expensive masturbation; it can’t work.)

Testing anti-missile systems under “controlled conditions” is fundamentally different from success in the real world. Modern “MIRV” systems, stealth technology, and, potentially decoy warheads, as well as the existing “over-kill” capabilities of the big three Nuclear Powers would certainly, and trivially, overwhelm any defensive system.

The warhead part of a MIRV is relatively tiny; put a guidance system in it, such that its flight path is not ballistic, and your putative defensive system is unlikely to even be able to see it, much less hit it.

Further, keeping in mind the power in a nuclear weapon… the MIRV warhead need not present you with a target for more than a few seconds before its explosive capabilities become world-ending for everything beneath it. After the first explosion, any currently inflight defensive missiles, or yet unlaunched missiles, could not be expected to function against the next wave of weapons.

You could, of course, be correct, that it is an achievable goal, (I’m just some random internet user, myself, what do I know?), but, that still leaves the issue of how China or Russia would react if it became clear that MADness was no longer in effect. Or, how we would react, should that shoe be an another foot. I’m not trying to be argumentative, really, I’m not. I just consider the issue extremely interesting; and I’ve been watching it, and thinking about it, for a long time.