US President Donald Trump (left), accompanied
Chris Kalonis/EPA-Enfe/Shutterstock
US President Donald Trump has proposed a defensive project, called the Golden Dome, to intercept any incomplete and advanced cruise cruise missiles and advance the country.
“Once it was completely built, the golden dome will be able to intercept the missiles even if it was fired from other aspects in the world, and even if it was launched from space,” Trump said during the White House. advertisement On May 20.
But this comprehensive objection system may not be possible. Some experts also warn that even if it succeeds, the golden dome will take at least a decade, cost more than half a trillion dollars – and accelerate the global nuclear arms race and the space weapon.
What is the golden dome?
The project name is Inspired by the Israeli Iron Dome system,, Which use the ground missiles to intercept the incoming missiles and artillery that were launched from relatively short distances. But the golden dome will need to defend a much larger space – the mass of the land of the neighboring United States alone is more than 350 times the size of Israel – from a wide range of advanced missiles.
According to Trump and its officials, the system must be able to face the ballistic missiles that can be launched from the other side of the world, which are advanced cruise missiles that fly on flat paths at low altitudes and non -audio missiles that can fly and maneuver at speeds exceeding 5, five times the speed of sound. These missiles can carry either nuclear warheads or traditional explosive warheads.
US Defense Secretary, Beit Higseth, said in A. statement. This means that there is an umbrella system of “golden domes” with different technologies that reflect different threats, David Bourbach At the Maritime War College in Rod Island, who shared some comments with New world With personal qualities.
However, not all these defenses are. For example, the golden dome is supposed to use space -based interceptor missiles in the low -Earth orbit, an unprecedented technological achievement unprecedented before, Thomas Gonzalez Roberts At the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
A similar idea, nicknamed Star Wars, was originally proposed by US President Ronald Reagan in His strategic defense initiative During the Cold War. In fact, Trump described the golden dome as an attempt to complete “the job that President Reagan started 40 years ago.”
How will the golden dome work?
The missile defense experts describe the challenge of intercepting long -range nuclear missiles as “hitting a bullet with a bullet, in the dark” because “the targets are small, from which any radio or infrared signals are emitted,” says Bourbach. “There is one thing that must be taken into account is that even optimistic technical experts admit that the interception of 100 percent is unlikely.”
The United States already has a system of ground -based traditional missiles, based in Alaska in the first place. They can drop “a few dozen warheads received at best,” says Bourbach. He also pointed out that Russia and China are developing counter -measures to make it difficult to discover and intercept missiles.
“Stopping of cruise missiles without the speed of sound or short -range ballistic missiles that were launched from outside the American border will use the technology in force, but it may be useful to spread enough of these defensive systems to cover the entire country,” says Bourbach. “The real challenge will be the goal of Golden Dome to stop large numbers of intercontinental missiles – President Trump said” 100 percent of them ” – like an attack from China or Russia.”
Trump’s claim that the golden dome will defend missile strikes from the other side of the world or even from space means that it will require a “dense constellation of low -Earth orbits, space -based missiles that can fade and hit a missile within minutes of its launch” from anywhere.
He says: “The number of satellites you will need is greater than any constellation that has been launched at all.” Currently, the largest constellation consists of about 7000 SPACEX satellites.
How much will the golden dome cost?
Trump proposed a $ 175 billion budget for the golden dome, although this financing has not yet been approved by the US Congress. The Congress Budget Office, a non -partisan federal agency, estimated The space interception system such as Golden Dome can cost up to $ 542 billion.
“What are the expenses listed in the number of $ 175 billion,” he says. Patrycja Bazylczyk At the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research tank in Washington, DC.
Trump also claimed that the golden dome will be “working completely” by the end of his second term in his post in early 2029, although experts doubt this is possible. “The timetable for three years is aggressive-it is likely that this initiative will extend at least for a decade, if not more.”
A large part of the schedule may depend on the number of existing military systems it uses. “Great progress is possible in the short term, including presenting new objections, radars on the horizon, space -based sensors and technological demonstrations,” says Bazylczyk.
But there are great restrictions at the speed of the United States’ launch of thousands of satellites required for the golden dome-nothing about developing space intersection technologies.
“I think you will be of severe pressure to find a release rhythm that can support a large constellation that rises in just three years,” says Roberts. “Spacex calls more often more than anyone in the history of space operations, and the question here is to open this ceiling further.”
“I think it is almost impossible for the system to be” operating completely “meaning” stopping 100 percent of the missile attack “quickly”, “Bourbach says. “Access to the operational capacity on a small scale will be very difficult soon.”
Will the golden dome be safer?
There is already a continuous armament race between the United States, China and Russia, where all three countries update and expand their nuclear arsenals, as well as develop space systems to support armies.
If the Golden Dome system is able to improve the American air defenses and missile, it can “change the strategic differentiation and integration” by reducing the confidence of any missile armed opponent, and deterring them from launching attacks in the first place, says Bazilusk.
On the other hand, the golden dome has “the possibility of contributing to instability” by “referring to your nuclear opponents you simply trust,” says Roberts. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Respond To announce Trump by saying that the golden dome is “strong offensive effects” and raises the risk of arms race in space. Kremlin spokesman Proposal Golden dome plans can resume discussion of nuclear weapons control between Russia and the United States.
Borbach says: To confront this system, China and Russia may try to “destroy or disrupt American satellites.” He says that both countries have missiles that are already capable of dropping satellites, and they can also try electronically or penetrate American satellite systems. In February 2024, the US government warned that Russia has plans to launch a space weapon capable of disrupting or destroying satellites, and perhaps using a nuclear explosion.
Borbach says that these countries can exceed their missiles and perhaps developing more maneuvering weapons that are also used. He pointed out that Russia has already begun to develop weapons less likely to objection based on space, such as transient nuclear ports that travels underwater.
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