In one of the costliest and most technologically ambitious national security projects in American history, President Trump has released a $175 billion missile defence plan called the "Golden Dome." The proposal, designed to defend the United States against new threats such as hypersonic glide vehicles and orbital missile systems, entails creating a sophisticated web of space-based sensors and, ultimately, space interceptors, the Wall Street Journal reported.
A project as audacious as the Manhattan Project
Vice Chief of US Space Operations General Michael A. Guetlein called the Golden Dome complex unparalleled since the Manhattan Project. The system will eventually need hundreds, even thousands, of new satellites to detect, track, and possibly neutralize missiles before they cross US soil.
In the near term, the Pentagon will deploy more ground missile defence systems. But its long-term vision is to meld ground systems with a constellation of low-orbiting satellites that can detect and shoot down threats with unprecedented speed and altitude.
Why current defences might no longer suffice
Classic missile defence systems are aimed against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which travel by predictable, high-arc trajectories. While ICBMs can carry multiple nuclear warheads, they can be relatively easily intercepted by radar and infrared sensors, giving ground-based interceptors an unobstructed shot at deranging them.
But emerging threats such as China's Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) and hypersonic glide vehicles pose a more slippery challenge. FOBS missiles are launched in low orbits and can hit from unanticipated angles, commonly below radar range. Hypersonic glide vehicles, on the other hand, fly at rates above Mach 5 and change direction midflight, making them nearly impossible to forecast or intercept through existing US defence systems.
"Even our imagination can't anticipate what our rival countries are going to do," cautioned Patrick Binning, a space systems engineering specialist at Johns Hopkins University.
Space sensors and the new "sensor layer"
To counter these next-generation weapons, the Pentagon has accelerated development of a new sensor layer—a vast array of tracking satellites. This system would provide continuous global surveillance, capable of identifying the launch, trajectory, and target of manoeuvring missiles.
"The manoeuvring, the gliding, the outmanoeuvring of our defences—those are all the challenges that we're trying to deal with," Binning said. "So we need a sensor layer which can keep track and custody of all of these objects as they are manoeuvring."
The jump to space interceptors—and escalating tensions
But the plan doesn't end with monitoring. Trump's vision involves space-based interceptors: satellites equipped with projectile technology to destroy missiles before they enter Earth's atmosphere. While such technology is in its infancy, defence manufacturers are developing designs that feature "mother-daughter" interceptor configurations, in which a satellite fires off smaller kill vehicles against the approaching threat.
This move has stunned competitors. China has condemned the proposal as destabilizing, and Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning described it as part of an American fixation on "absolute security." Critics worry that putting interceptors into space could readily be converted to attack purposes—such as shutting down competing satellites—heightening the threat of a space arms race.
From Reagan's Star Wars to Trump's Golden Dome
President Trump's suggested missile shield is reminiscent of the Strategic Defence Initiative heralded by Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. That proposal eventually fell through because of the eye-popping expense and the lack of technology. Experts are cautioning Trump's Golden Dome to expect similar stumbling blocks.
Nevertheless, the president is optimistic. "Our enemies are very unhappy about it… We're doing it because we want to be around for a long time," he stated in a West Point speech.
Whether the Golden Dome will be delivered on its promised schedule—Trump asserts that it will be ready at the end of his term—or be extended into a multidecade undertaking is unclear. But the objectives indicate a fresh phase of spaceborne warfare readiness, and potentially a fresh theatre of great power competition.
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