Some analysts have cast scepticisms on the price and time frame for the completion of Golden Dome, saying it is likely to be far more expensive and take much longer than Trump’s estimates.
“The US would have to put a lot (of) satellites … sensors and interceptors … into space – we’re talking many thousands. How are they going to finish it in three years? I have no idea,” said Grant Newsham, a senior research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies.
During the announcement, Trump referred to former President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative – dubbed Star Wars, a defensive system against potential nuclear attacks.
Reagan’s ballistic missile barrier programme was widely derided when proposed in 1983 amid the Cold War, with criticisms that it was closer to science fiction.
“We will truly be completing the job that President Reagan started 40 years ago, forever ending the missile threat to the American homeland,” Trump said.
Newsham said that like Reagan’s Star Wars system, efforts to realise Trump’s plan will spur America’s defence technology development whether it succeeds or not.
“America’s missile defense system is not very good as it is, but this would be an effort to make it into something much tighter,” he told CNA’s Asia Now on Wednesday.
“(The US) innovation will come to the fore, and I think we can get something that is a whole lot better than what we have today. It may not be exactly like it’s envisioned, but we’ll have much better ability to address the threats we face.”
