at the time of the initial development of mtr, the soviets anticipated that certain technologies, including energy weapons and robots, would be in use by 2015 at the latest. they believed that the use of large ground forces would be minimized. in place of some ground forces, these new technologies would be implemented in order to establish dominance on the battlefield. russians also believed that control of space would become essential for maintaining dominance in future conflicts. soviets believed that it would be essential to control the satellite space around earth, in order to more effectively relay information. they also anticipated the ability to use space as a medium in which they could deploy weapons.