The "Golden Dome" missile defense program will not be completed by the end of Trump's term - media
Kyiv • UNN
The American "Golden Dome" missile defense system program will not be completed by the end of Trump's term. Space weapons will only be ready for demonstration by 2028.
The American anti-missile defense system program "Golden Dome" will not be completed by the end of Donald Trump's presidential term. Pentagon officials expect the space weapon to be ready for demonstration only by 2028. This was reported by UNN with reference to sources The Guardian.
Donald Trump's so-called "Golden Dome" anti-missile defense program, which will include space weapons to intercept strikes on the United States, will not be ready by the end of his term, despite his forecast for completion within the next three years
Last week in the Oval Office, when he announced that the US Space Force would control the project under the leadership of General Michael Getline, the president said he was confident it would be "fully functional" before he left office.
But the implementation plan for the "Golden Dome" project, developed by the Pentagon, as described by two sources familiar with the matter, envisages that the defense weapon will only be ready for demonstration and under ideal conditions by the end of 2028.
According to sources, the "Golden Dome" program is actually being put into operation in stages, not all at once. Initially, the Pentagon intends to focus on integrating data systems before later developing space weapons.
In 18 months, the US may lay the foundation for a fully functioning "Golden Dome", where a military network of satellites and space communications systems could track hundreds of missiles flying towards the US.
It is noted that at this stage there will be no way to destroy missiles with space weapons. The US has about 40 Patriot air defense batteries in Alaska and California that can be used to destroy potential intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Instead, by the end of Trump's term, the Pentagon may have a network of space sensors and communications and try to integrate it with unproven space weapons to shoot it down.
The Guardian notes that the space network is likely to rely heavily on Elon Musk's SpaceX, which is developing a next-generation tracking system known as the "air moving target identifier." The Department of Defense purchased the first prototypes last year during the Biden administration.
However, the flagship Golden Dome concept, which involves detecting and destroying ballistic missiles in the first 30 seconds to two minutes after launch, when their heat signature is maximum (the so-called "boost phase"), is not expected to be implemented.
This technology is still under development, and according to sources, it may not be possible for many years to ensure that a space-launched interceptor pierces the Earth's atmosphere with enough force to destroy a ballistic missile.
The Department of Defense is already having difficulties with ground-based interceptors, which have been under development since the 1980s to destroy missiles in their so-called "planning phase", but still have only about 20% success rate.
A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Department of Defense "will not publicly disclose specific technical details regarding the capabilities or acquisition strategies of certain advanced systems."
The Trump administration has said the "Golden Dome" could cost around $175 billion. This figure, according to two sources familiar with the matter, stems from the Pentagon's allocation to the project: $17.6 billion in 2026, approximately $50 billion in 2027, and approximately $100 billion in 2028.
The final cost may be higher, but Pentagon officials have privately said it depends on how ambitious the "Golden Dome" will be under Trump's orders.
If Trump wants to be able to defend against 100 ballistic missiles, it may require the "Golden Dome" to have several thousand satellites that will naturally fall out of orbit every few years and need to be replaced, one of the sources said.
On Tuesday, in a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that Canada could participate in the "Golden Dome" program, but it would have to pay $61 billion or become the 51st US state to receive it for free. It is unclear how Trump arrived at that figure.
The idea of Canada participating in the program was discussed in the Pentagon when Trump first ordered the "Golden Dome" a few months ago, one of the sources said, but it was more about Canada providing its satellite and radar data for the "Golden Dome" program.
Addendum
Last week, US President Donald Trump officially announced the start of the creation of the "Golden Dome" anti-missile defense system in the country. According to the head of the White House, about 175 billion dollars will be allocated for the development of this system in total.
Trump stressed that the "Golden Dome" will protect the US almost 100% from all missiles, including hypersonic ones. He added that Canada also wants to be under the protection of the latest missile defense system, and Washington will negotiate this with Ottawa.