Author: Unknown
Published on: 04/02/2025 | 00:00:00
AI Summary:
United States President Donald Trump announced plans to create a missile defence shield. The name evoked Israel's Iron Dome air defence system. It is tailored to Israel’s defence needs and size. But the continental United States is vast, spanning four time zones. The phrase “Iron Dome” is now a synonym for “missile defence shield” This multilayered defence system is envisaged as not just protecting the US but also forward-deployed troops in combat. The problems, both then and now, were that a comprehensive missile shield would be exorbitant in price, barely technically possible and impractical in reality. The US and Israel have poured billions of dollars into research. In the conflicts over the skies of Ukraine and Israel, incoming missiles have been detected and destroyed with increasing frequency. The information gained in actual combat has been invaluable to developers. Initially derided, the US Space Force would be an integral part of this new missile shield along with the US Strategic and Northern commands. Emphasis has been placed on intercepting any missile attack as early as possible, ideally in the first phase, or “boost phase” of a missile’s flight. The plan also calls for a series of space-based interceptors that could destroy missiles at this early stage. Space-based “kinetic kill” missiles could also be used to hit and essentially smash incoming missiles to bits. All these weapons would be in orbit, covering a huge area, as they watch for missile launches and attacks. The placement, coordination and control of this vast network of interceptors and detectors would be controlled by the Space Force. The US’s second-strike capability is guaranteed, so why is there a need for a shield? An effective shield breaks down the decades-old balance of terror on which mutually assured destruction is based. This balance is significantly weakened if one party can hide behind an effective missile defence system. The new and much-improved missile shield could stop the weakened response.
Original: 1371 words
Summary: 338 words
Percent reduction: 75.35%
I'm a bot and I'm open source