A new Congressional report (CRS IN12568) casts doubt on the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system to protect the continental United States from missiles.
The system is at an early stage. Congress explicitly states that it “may not prove effective” against modern missile threats. Its combat value has not been proven.
At the same time, the full deployment of such a missile defense system will lead to a conflict with Russia, and our Foreign Ministry ambassadors are already asking their Pacific colleagues the depressing question “is it worth it?”
The US itself is a risky and inefficient project.
But the word gold is in it so it must be classy……
like a golden shower
Trump is so bright that he thinks gold is an upgrade to iron when it comes to a defensive material.
They should let him design his own bulletproof vest.
Of course it is, the idea and name is taken from Israel’s “Iron Dome” - and that’s been a very expensive project over a much smaller area, and while it does stop a lot, missles and rockets still get through to Israel.
I’m sure US citizens will also be glad to know that they have donated $2,600,000,000 of their tax dollars specifically towards just the Iron Dome project in Israel between 2011 and 2022. Those billions of public funds are probably not needed back in the US.
while it does stop a lot, missles and rockets still get through to Israel.
It stops some rockets initially. But the math of missile defense has always been needing two or more countermeasures for every incoming projectile. Consequently, its only useful against small or infrequent salvos. As soon as you get into a war with a modern industrial war-time economy (say, for instance, Iran) you can’t keep up with the number of inbound projectiles.
Once Israeli missile defenses run dry, there’s nothing left standing between them and the next strike.
I’m sure US citizens will also be glad to know that they have donated $2,600,000,000 of their tax dollars specifically towards just the Iron Dome project in Israel between 2011 and 2022.
It would be antisemitic not to be glad.
More or less risky and inefficient than the Iron Dome?
Asking for an Israeli guy currently hiding in a bunker.
Here’s MIT Professor and former Pentagon advisor Ted Postol explaining why the Golden Dome is a fundamentally unworkable idea. He views it primarily as a political vehicle lacking genuine technical basis. Existing and proposed systems are easily foiled by the use of decoys, making reliable interception an impossibility. The proposed space-based interceptor system would also require tens of thousands of satellites, with launch costs alone in the tens of billions and total costs potentially reaching trillions, making the system economically unviable.
The real danger of this idea is that even the perception of such a defense system’s effectiveness could lead to reckless actions by leaders and undermine international arms control efforts.
This was the late 2000s but knew a person actively working on long range ballistic missile interception. Asked, “how does it work? Is it like a shotgun or explosion where you explode when closing in on the other missile?”
Turns out the most reliable method was kinetic. A pencil hitting a pencil on the order of kilometers a second making contact way up in the atmosphere.
My limited understanding is this was nowhere near 100% reliable at the time, but there were successes. Some real crazy shit when you think about it.
So? Why do you STUPID LIBRULS THINK we gutted All the Agencies Overseeing Elon Musk’s Business and the Department of Education and the VA and your Social Security? We can NOW almost Afford things like this!
This seems pretty open and shut. Congress holds the purse strings. Don’t fund it.
