Ars gives the SKIF-DM's designers more credit than they deserve. Gorbechev didn't want a Soviet SDI program and was highly critical of the military's existing research efforts in that direction [1] details at great (and I think facinating length) his efforts to dismantle the Soviet military machine. The -DM launch detailed here was the designers last ditch effort to save the program due to continued failure to produce either a sufficiently powerful chemical laser or a computer system capable of controlling it as the Sary Shagan [2] and Terra 3 [3] installations are ample proof.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Dead-Hand-Untold-Dangerous /dp/0307387844/

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sary_Shagan

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra-3

Disclaimer: at age 20 I was born as these events drew to a close so my knowlege of this subject is restricted to the historical material I've read in incredulity that we stood on the brink for 50 years and came out alive.

Interesting to think about what new technologies we'd have today as the result of a space arms race beginning in the late '80s...

Steve Blank has a series of blog posts you might find interesting, talking about the birth of Silicon Valley as a result of SigInt in a post WW2 era.

http://steveblank.com/secret-history/

I find his blog posts better than the video.

Implying there was not a space arms race?

But there was. It wasn't a classic arms race with actual vehicles parading down the street, but money was spent, research was done.

Two things we have as a result are adaptive optics, and the anti-ballistic missile defense systems now coming on line.

I wasn't implying that. I guess the vibe I've always gotten is that space technology innovation has slowed pretty significantly since the height of the space race and that it would have been neat to see it get reinvigorated so recently.

I'm not a subject matter expert, but in the last decade, there have been some huge strides forward in aerospace: SS1 for example was a _brilliant_ hack on the 'how do we get back from the edge of space without burning to cinders' problem.

NASA, faced with the problem, designed high-tech and fragile ceramics. Rutan, same problem, designed a craft that emulates a badminton birdie.

It's not that simple, but you get the idea.

Energia was an amazing heavy lifter, it's a great shame the capability was lost after just two flights.