Found some interesting info on a now-defunct project the Soviets were working on in the mid-1980's, in response to the US SDI Program.
Called POLYUS, this was a large Soviet satellite / small space station designed for ASAT missions. Future plans were to include a solid-state
laser.
Good info can be found
here, and some good
photos can be found on this forum.
Really makes you wonder what those red scientists were working on back then...........
