▁basis ▁and ▁resulted ▁in ▁early ▁fail ures , ▁but ▁successful ▁intercept s ▁occurred ▁from ▁ 1 9 9 9 ▁on ward . ▁ ▁Full ▁field ing ▁of ▁the ▁first ▁TH A AD ▁battery ▁began ▁in ▁ 2 0 0 9 . ▁ ▁Br illiant ▁P eb bles ▁concept ▁Appro ved ▁for ▁ac quisition ▁by ▁the ▁Pent agon ▁during ▁ 1 9 9 1 ▁but ▁never ▁realized , ▁Br illiant ▁P eb bles ▁was ▁a ▁proposed ▁space - based ▁anti - ball istic ▁system ▁that ▁was ▁meant ▁to ▁avoid ▁some ▁of ▁the ▁problems ▁of ▁the ▁earlier ▁S DI ▁concepts . ▁R ather ▁than ▁use ▁s oph istic ated ▁large ▁las er ▁battle ▁stations ▁and ▁nuclear - p ump ed ▁X - ray ▁las er ▁sat ell ites , ▁Br illiant ▁P eb bles ▁consisted ▁of ▁a ▁thousand ▁very ▁small , ▁intellig ent ▁orbit ing ▁sat ell ites ▁with ▁kin etic ▁war head s . ▁The ▁system ▁re lied ▁on ▁improvements ▁of ▁computer ▁technology , ▁avoided ▁problems ▁with ▁over ly ▁central ized ▁command ▁and ▁control ▁and ▁ris ky , ▁expensive ▁development ▁of ▁large , ▁complicated ▁space ▁defense ▁sat ell ites . ▁It ▁promised ▁to ▁be ▁much ▁less ▁expensive ▁to ▁develop ▁and ▁have ▁less ▁technical ▁development ▁risk . ▁ ▁The ▁name ▁Br illiant ▁P eb bles ▁comes ▁from ▁the ▁small ▁size ▁of ▁the ▁satellite ▁intercept ors ▁and ▁great ▁computational ▁power ▁en abling ▁more ▁autonom ous ▁target ing . ▁R ather ▁than ▁rely ▁exclus ively ▁on ▁ground - based ▁control , ▁the ▁many ▁small ▁intercept ors ▁would