In arms control, US is coming of age--Reagan

President Reagan sent Congress the annual report of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Monday and declared that the administration is following a ''rational and realistic'' path toward preventing nuclear war.

In a statement accompanying the document, the President said he believes the report - the first submitted by his administration and the 21st submitted since the creation of the agency - marks a coming of age in the US approach to arms control and disarmament. The report reviews arms-control efforts during 1981.