THAT is what makes antimissile arms the most contentious part of the new calculus.

The Eris program got under way in 1986 amid the Pentagon's push to diversify the hunt for antimissile arms.

The Soviet effort to create futuristic antimissile arms is complemented by their intensive, and longstanding, work on more-conventional defensive weapons.

Such measures, he said, might include further development and deployment of antimissile arms and an increase in offensive nuclear warheads.

In an unusual departure, a senior Soviet science official recently agreed that large lasers could threaten space-based antimissile arms.

But the quest for exotic antimissile arms can take many forms.

That program, known as Project Defender, was to develop exotic antimissile arms.

If the Pentagon provides major support, it would imply a desire to power an advanced class of antimissile arms in orbit about the Earth.

Star Wars, begun in 1983, has so far cost more than $30 billion but produced no antimissile arms.

"It's one of those things that will have to be done aggressively," he said of trying to protect antimissile arms.