diff --git a/pkg/apis/extensions/v1beta1/defaults_test.go b/pkg/apis/extensions/v1beta1/defaults_test.go
index f02b2c0d446..6fce3d5efb3 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/extensions/v1beta1/defaults_test.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/extensions/v1beta1/defaults_test.go
@@ -201,6 +201,30 @@ func TestSetDefaultDeployment(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			original: &Deployment{
+				Spec: DeploymentSpec{
+					Replicas: newInt32(3),
+					Strategy: DeploymentStrategy{
+						Type:          RollingUpdateDeploymentStrategyType,
+						RollingUpdate: nil,
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			expected: &Deployment{
+				Spec: DeploymentSpec{
+					Replicas: newInt32(3),
+					Strategy: DeploymentStrategy{
+						Type: RollingUpdateDeploymentStrategyType,
+						RollingUpdate: &RollingUpdateDeployment{
+							MaxSurge:       &defaultIntOrString,
+							MaxUnavailable: &defaultIntOrString,
+						},
+					},
+					Template: defaultTemplate,
+				},
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			original: &Deployment{
 				Spec: DeploymentSpec{
diff --git a/pkg/apis/extensions/validation/validation.go b/pkg/apis/extensions/validation/validation.go
index 3f03a04ec28..d0405c3770f 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/extensions/validation/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/extensions/validation/validation.go
@@ -198,14 +198,21 @@ func ValidateRollingUpdateDeployment(rollingUpdate *extensions.RollingUpdateDepl
 
 func ValidateDeploymentStrategy(strategy *extensions.DeploymentStrategy, fldPath *field.Path) field.ErrorList {
 	allErrs := field.ErrorList{}
-	if strategy.RollingUpdate == nil {
-		return allErrs
-	}
 	switch strategy.Type {
 	case extensions.RecreateDeploymentStrategyType:
-		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Forbidden(fldPath.Child("rollingUpdate"), "may not be specified when strategy `type` is '"+string(extensions.RecreateDeploymentStrategyType+"'")))
+		if strategy.RollingUpdate != nil {
+			allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Forbidden(fldPath.Child("rollingUpdate"), "may not be specified when strategy `type` is '"+string(extensions.RecreateDeploymentStrategyType+"'")))
+		}
 	case extensions.RollingUpdateDeploymentStrategyType:
-		allErrs = append(allErrs, ValidateRollingUpdateDeployment(strategy.RollingUpdate, fldPath.Child("rollingUpdate"))...)
+		// This should never happen since it's set and checked in defaults.go
+		if strategy.RollingUpdate == nil {
+			allErrs = append(allErrs, field.Required(fldPath.Child("rollingUpdate"), "this should be defaulted and never be nil"))
+		} else {
+			allErrs = append(allErrs, ValidateRollingUpdateDeployment(strategy.RollingUpdate, fldPath.Child("rollingUpdate"))...)
+		}
+	default:
+		validValues := []string{string(extensions.RecreateDeploymentStrategyType), string(extensions.RollingUpdateDeploymentStrategyType)}
+		allErrs = append(allErrs, field.NotSupported(fldPath, strategy, validValues))
 	}
 	return allErrs
 }
diff --git a/pkg/registry/deployment/etcd/etcd_test.go b/pkg/registry/deployment/etcd/etcd_test.go
index d4503e11379..b5782bdbc24 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/deployment/etcd/etcd_test.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/deployment/etcd/etcd_test.go
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/storage/etcd/etcdtest"
 	etcdtesting "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/storage/etcd/testing"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/diff"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/intstr"
 )
 
 const defaultReplicas = 100
@@ -56,6 +57,13 @@ func validNewDeployment() *extensions.Deployment {
 		},
 		Spec: extensions.DeploymentSpec{
 			Selector: &unversioned.LabelSelector{MatchLabels: map[string]string{"a": "b"}},
+			Strategy: extensions.DeploymentStrategy{
+				Type: extensions.RollingUpdateDeploymentStrategyType,
+				RollingUpdate: &extensions.RollingUpdateDeployment{
+					MaxSurge:       intstr.FromInt(1),
+					MaxUnavailable: intstr.FromInt(1),
+				},
+			},
 			Template: api.PodTemplateSpec{
 				ObjectMeta: api.ObjectMeta{
 					Labels: map[string]string{"a": "b"},