United States: Trump's 'Gold Dome' faces many challenges, Canada ready to participate

Donald Trump wants to equip the United States with an effective defense system against a wide range of enemy weapons, from intercontinental ballistic missiles to hypersonic and cruise missiles, including drones. The White House occupant hopes to have this system operational by the end of his term. But four months after the president ordered the Pentagon to work on this project, few details have emerged.

"The main challenges will be cost, the defense industry, and political will. They can all be overcome, but it will take focus and prioritization," says Melanie Marlowe of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The White House and Congress will have to agree on how much to spend and where to get the money from," she adds, noting that "our defense industry has atrophied," although "we have begun to revive it." "There is a lot of progress to be made on sensors, interceptors, and other components of the project," she says.

Donald Trump stated Tuesday that the "Gold Dome" would cost around $175 billion in total. This figure seems far below the actual cost of such a system. "That's not realistic," said Thomas Roberts, an assistant professor of international affairs and aerospace engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "The problem with yesterday's (Tuesday) statements is that they lack the details that would allow us to develop a model of what this constellation would actually look like," he observed.

According to a non-partisan congressional agency, the estimated cost of a space-based interceptor system to counter a limited number of intercontinental ballistic missiles is between $161 billion and $542 billion over 20 years. However, the system envisaged by Donald Trump could require a space-based interceptor capability "greater than the systems examined in previous studies," the agency noted, adding that "quantifying these recent changes will require careful analysis."

The "Golden Dome" is inspired by Israel's "Iron Dome," which was designed to protect the country from short-range missile and rocket attacks, as well as drone attacks, and not to intercept intercontinental-range missiles that could strike the United States. In 2022, the U.S. military's latest Missile Defense Review noted growing threats from Russia and China.

Beijing is moving closer to Washington on ballistic and hypersonic missiles, while Moscow is modernizing its intercontinental-range missile systems and improving its precision missiles, according to the document. It also states that the threat from drones—which are playing a key role in the war in Ukraine—is likely to increase and warns of the danger of ballistic missiles from North Korea and Iran, as well as rocket and missile threats from non-state actors.