Roving Periscope: Trump’s Golden Dome may ape Reagan’s Star Wars!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: America’s objective has remained the same, although its enemies are different. Then, it was the Soviet Union; now it’s China plus Russia.
Aiming to defend the USA and galaxy, no less, Republican President Ronald Reagan, on March 23, 1983, in a televised address to the nation, announced his plans to embark upon groundbreaking research into a national defense system that could make nuclear weapons obsolete, Estimated to cost USD 30 billion, it was known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), popularly called America’s Star Wars-type protective shield against the Soviet Union’s potential nuclear attack.
Predictably, the Soviet Union, led by Mikhael Gorbachev, panicked and hurriedly put together a far more expensive defense program that bankrupted Moscow in a few years and the USSR itself fell apart in 1991. So, Star Wars never really took off but it did bankrupt the USSR.
Now, 42 years later, another Republican President, Donald Trump, has announced a USD 175 billion Golden Dome defense shield to protect America from both China and Russia. Its cost may potentially swell to over USD 800 billions in the next two decades.
America’s Golden Dome idea was inspired by Israel’s land-based Iron Dome defense shield that protects it from missiles and rockets, and has stood out in bold relief during its ongoing war against the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
According to the media reports on Wednesday, the Golden Dome idea aims to block nuclear and missile threats from China and Russia. But it also faces political scrutiny and funding uncertainty. The Democrats are concerned by likely involvement of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
While American states like Alaska, Florida, Georgia, and Indiana may benefit from it, Trump has also offered a protective cover to Canada—for a fee.
The new defense initiative started rolling on Tuesday when President Trump said he had selected a design for the USD 175-billion Golden Dome missile defense shield and named a Space Force general to head the ambitious program aimed at blocking threats from China and Russia.
The program, first ordered by Trump in January, aims to create a network of satellites, perhaps numbering in the hundreds, to detect, track and potentially intercept incoming missiles.
The media reported that Trump told a White House press conference that U.S. Space Force General Michael Guetlein would be the lead program manager for an effort widely viewed as the keystone to the US President’s military planning.
Golden Dome will “protect our homeland,” Trump said, adding that Canada also wanted to be part of it.
In a statement, the office of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he and his ministers were discussing a new security and economic relationship with their American counterparts.
“These discussions naturally include strengthening NORAD and related initiatives such as the Golden Dome,” it added.
Established in 1958, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a combined US and Canadian military command responsible for aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and air defense for North America.
Trump said the new defense shield, which would cost some USD 175 billion, should be operational by the end of his term in January 2029, but industry experts were sceptic about the timeframe and the cost.
“Ronald Reagan wanted it many years ago, but they didn’t have the technology,” Trump said, referring to the space-based missile defense system, popularly called “Star Wars,” four decades ago.
The Golden Dome program faces both political scrutiny and funding uncertainty.
“The new datapoint is the USD 175 billion, but the question remains, over what period of time. It’s probably 10 years,” said Tom Karako of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Silicon Valley and U.S. software expertise can be leveraged to bring advances, while also using existing missile defense systems, he added.
This month, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that Golden Dome could cost as much as USD 831 billion over two decades.
Democratic lawmakers have, however, voiced concern about the procurement process and involvement of Trump ally Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has emerged as a frontrunner alongside Palantir and Anduril to build key components of the system.
“The new autonomous space-age defense ecosystem is more about Silicon Valley than it is about ‘big metal,’” Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said at the White House event.
“So, what’s exciting about this is it makes it available to everybody to participate, to compete.”
“Big metal” refers to legacy defense contractors.
Unlike Israel’s Iron Dome, Trump’s Golden Dome is much more extensive, including a massive array of surveillance satellites and a separate fleet of attacking satellites that would shoot down offensive missiles soon after lift-off.
Tuesday’s announcement kicks off the Pentagon’s effort to test and ultimately buy the missiles, systems, sensors and satellites that will constitute Golden Dome.
Trump said Alaska would be a big part of the program, while Florida, Georgia and Indiana would also benefit.
Golden Dome’s funding remains uncertain. Republican lawmakers have proposed a USD 25-billion initial investment for Golden Dome as part of a broader USD 150-billion defense package, but this funding is tied to a contentious reconciliation bill that faces significant hurdles in the US Congress.
