We now have reports that Russia is designing and building missiles with the direct goal of foiling US missile defense systems.

This was foreseeable, and it’s not hard.

The technology for decoys is basically the same as you see for the shiny silver aluminized Mylar balloons, and about 20 years ago, an SDI opponent noted that there was nothing to prevent an opposing power from putting its reentry vehicles in said decoys, making detection nigh impossible until it enters the upper reaches of the atmosphere.

Once it reaches the atmosphere, the use of MaRVs (maneuverable reentry vehicles) to evade interception can come into play, and that technology actually saw deployment with the Pershing II IRBMs in the 1980s.

The last line of the article reveals the folly here:

That month Russia and China proposed a new treaty banning the use of weapons in space, but the idea was rejected by the White House.

I’ll be so glad when grown ups start going to work at the White House.