missile gap

noun

1. a lag in one country's missile production relative to the production of another country.

Word History and Origins

Origin of missile gap¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

So much for the “missile gap” that figured so prominently in John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign.

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Those weapons, along with anti-ship missiles fielded in Okinawa by the new littoral regiments, could help close a growing missile gap with China, say experts.

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Tokyo and Washington hope the more muscular military policy Kishida announced last month, a further move away from Japan's pacifist postwar constitution, will close a widening missile gap with China and deter Beijing from military action, particularly against neighbouring Taiwan.

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Kennedy had been very narrowly elected on the promise to rectify the “missile gap” between the supposedly superior Soviet Union and weak old USA.

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But Americans nurtured their own conspiracy theories and hyped the Soviet threat, warning of a fictional “bomber gap” and “missile gap” and even a “muscle gap” — Soviet youth were supposedly more fit.

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