President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had selected a design for the $175-billion Golden Dome missile defence 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.
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 Trump’s military planning.
Golden Dome will “protect our homeland,” Trump said, adding that Canada had said it 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.
Trump said the defence shield, which would cost some $175 billion, should be operational by the end of his term in January 2029, but industry experts were less certain of that timeframe and the cost, Reuters reports.
“Ronald Reagan wanted it many years ago, but they didn’t have the technology,” Trump said, referring to the space-based missile defence system, popularly called “Star Wars”, that Reagan proposed.
The Golden Dome program faces both political scrutiny and funding uncertainty
“The new datapoint is the $175 billion, but the question remains, over what period of time. It’s probably 10 years,” said Tom Karako of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Silicon Valley and U.S. software expertise can be leveraged to bring advances, while also using existing missile defence systems, he added.
This month, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that Golden Dome could cost as much as $831 billion over two decades.
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