is a 1982 Japanese anime science fiction war original video animation directed by Toshio Masuda and Tomoharu Katsumata. Set during the Cold War in an unspecified year of the 1980s, the film details the outbreak of World War III between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. It is partially inspired by the 1982 speculative war novel The Third World War: The Untold Story by Sir John Hackett.

Plot

In September 1985, the United States conducts a televised test of "Space Ranger"—a crewed missile defense space weapon consisting of four laser-equipped modules and a mother ship named Voyager—at Vandenberg Air Force Base, overseen by American researchers Burt Gains and Professor Brown. Gains believes Space Ranger could end nuclear war forever, but also fears it could worsen the nuclear arms race. The next day, he is kidnapped by Soviet spies who attempt to smuggle him back to the Soviet Union in an Alfa-class submarine for information on Space Ranger. U.S. President Gibson orders the submarine sunk to secure Space Ranger's secrets, and a P-3 Orion destroys it with a nuclear torpedo, killing everyone aboard, including Gains. The sinking inflames tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union; as Gibson seeks a peaceful resolution, Soviet Premier Orlov is offered a choice between a reasoned response by First Deputy Premier Kutsov and military retaliation by hawkish Minister of Defence Bugarin, but opts to simply place the Soviet Armed Forces on high alert. In the weeks after Gains' death, his close friend and fellow researcher, Japanese national Wataru Mikumo, is promoted to replace him as head of the Space Ranger project, and Wataru bonds with Gains' sister Laura. Meanwhile in Neinberg, West Germany, farm girl Marina and her boyfriend, British Army missile crewman Michael, prepare for the town's upcoming New Year celebrations, while off the coast of Hokkaido, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force intercepts a Soviet Tu-22.