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The Golden Dome is a proposed ground- and space-based missile defense system of the United States, announced in 2025 with a projected outlay of $175 billion. It is designed to provide multi-layered protection against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), hypersonic weapons, and cruise missiles from adversaries such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

Objectives

• Establish a comprehensive shield capable of intercepting hostile missiles in their boost, midcourse, and terminal phases.
• Enhance U.S. homeland security through satellite-based early warning, tracking, and interception.
• Integrate existing U.S. missile defense systems into a unified architecture.

Key Features

• Space-Based Layer
  • Hundreds of satellites equipped with sensors and interceptors to detect and neutralize missiles soon after launch.
  • Incorporation of laser-based systems for mid-flight interception.
• Ground-Based Layers
  • Layer 2: Strengthening of the existing Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) in California and Alaska.
  • Layer 3: Five new land-based launch sites (three in continental U.S., two in Hawaii and Alaska) to intercept missiles during their space trajectory.
  • Layer 4: “Limited Area Defense” to protect key population centers, using radars, common launchers, and systems like Patriot, THAAD, and Aegis BMD.
• Integration with Existing Systems
  • Builds upon existing U.S. missile defense infrastructure to ensure layered and redundant protection.

Comparison with Other Systems

• Israel’s Iron Dome: Golden Dome is often compared to Iron Dome, though the latter is designed for short-range rockets (4–70 km), while Golden Dome targets long-range ballistic and hypersonic threats.
• Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI/“Star Wars”): Golden Dome revives the 1980s concept of space-based defenses, but with advanced modern technology in satellites, sensors, and lasers.

Challenges

• Funding uncertainties: Though an initial $25 billion allocation has been proposed, political hurdles remain.
• Technological feasibility: Space-based interceptors and lasers pose significant challenges in cost, testing, and deployment.
• Strategic implications: Critics argue the system could revive debates on arms races and anti-ballistic missile treaties.

Significance

If realized, the Golden Dome would represent the most ambitious U.S. missile defense program since the Cold War, potentially altering global strategic stability by providing the U.S. with a multi-domain shield against next-generation missile threats.