Trump announces $25 billion and architectural design for "Golden Dome" missile defense system
President Trump on Tuesday announced his administration has selected the architectural design for a "Golden Dome" missile defense system to protect the United States from foreign threats.Tuesday, May 20th 2025, 4:09 pm
WASHINGTON -
President
Trump on Tuesday announced his administration has selected the
architectural design for a "Golden Dome" missile defense system to
protect the United States from foreign threats.
The president also said the budget package Republicans
are currently ironing out on Capitol Hill will include an initial $25
billion to begin construction on the missile defense system. Mr. Trump
said the project's total cost will be about $175 billion, although it
could be much more. Congress hasn't yet funded any of the project,
although Mr. Trump told reporters he thinks it'll be easy to fund on
Capitol Hill.
"Today, I'm pleased to announce that we have
officially selected an architecture for this state-of-the-art system
that will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea and
space, including space-based sensors and interceptors," the president
announced in the Oval Office alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
President
Trump speaks alongside Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the Oval
Office at the White House on May 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Mr. Trump
announced his plans for the Golden Dome, a national ballistic and
cruise missile defense system.Getty Images
Mr. Trump said
the project should be "fully operational before the end of my term,"
which would be before January 2028. The president said the system will
be built in states including Alaska, Florida, Georgia and Indiana, and
involve multiple, yet-to-be-selected American defense and technology
companies.
Canada wants to be involved in the project, the president said, adding that the U.S. wants to help Canada as it can.
"Once
fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting
missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world and
even if they are launched from space," he said. "And we will have the
best system ever built."
The president told reporters that he
suggested a comprehensive new missile defense system to U.S. military
leaders, and they agreed, not the other way around.
"I suggested
it and they all said, 'We love the idea, sir.' That's the way it's gotta
be, right? But they want it. And they wanted it badly once it was
suggested."
The president has for months expressed a desire for a defense system like Israel's. In his March joint address to Congress, the president requested funding for the system.
"I'm
asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art Golden Dome shield to
protect our homeland," the president said in his address to Congress.
"All made in the USA. Ronald Reagan wanted to do it long ago, but the
technology wasn't there, not even close. But now we have the technology.
It's incredible, actually. And other places have it. Israel has it,
other places have it, and the United States should have it too."
A
new, unclassified assessment from the Pentagon's intelligence agency
shows what threats the U.S. needs to defend itself from in the next
decade.
The Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, expects that
missile threats to the U.S. will expand both in scale and
sophistication, as the U.S. faces threats from foreign actors in the
shape of intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched
ballistic missiles, two types of hypersonic weapons, land attack cruise
missiles, and fractional orbital bombardment systems.
Mr. Trump wants a "Golden Dome" in the vein of Israel's Iron Dome,
the country's mobile all-weather air defense system that has
intercepted projectiles since its installation in 2011. However,
Israel's Iron Dome largely defends against shorter-range threats, like
rockets, while it has two other air defense systems to defend against
missiles, which are increasingly being used in conflict.
"Missile
threats to the U.S. homeland will expand in scale and sophistication in
the coming decade," the assessment says. "China and Russia are
developing an array of novel delivery systems to exploit gaps in the
current U.S. ballistic missile defenses, but traditional ballistic
missiles — which are guided during powered flight and unguided during
free flight — will remain the primary threat to the homeland. North
Korea has successfully tested ballistic missiles with
sufficient range to reach the entire homeland, and Iran has space
launch vehicles it could use to develop a military-viable ICBM by 2035,
should Tehran decide to pursue the capability."
The assessment
warns that China, Iran and North Korea will have significantly more
intercontinental ballistic missiles by 2035, and "there is no part of
the homeland which cannot be struck by existing ICBMs." Although Iran
doesn't currently have known ICBMs, the DIA assessment suggests it will
have 60 by 2035. Keeping Iran from becoming a nuclear power has been a key goal of the U.S. and its allies.
The
assessment also warns that China's submarine-launched ballistic
missiles will increase in number by 2035, and "there is no part of the
homeland which cannot be struck by existing adversary SLBMs." Russia,
too, has submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
Further, the
assessment warns that both China and Russia will increase their boosted
hypersonic weapons multiple times over by 2035. The report says that
Russia and China can reach parts of the U.S. with these systems. The
report also says China and Russia's land attack cruise missile capacity
will significantly increase by 2035, and both countries have the
potential to reach parts of the U.S.
Finally, the report says
both Russia and China are expected to have what's known as fractional
orbital bombardment systems by 2035. These will be able to orbit the
globe, traveling over the South Pole to avoid early detection.
No comments:
Post a Comment