Visualisation from The Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) recently released unclassified assessment titled “Golden Dome for America: Current and Future Missile Threats to the U.S. Homeland”. (DIA via SWNS)
By Dean Murray
Donald Trump has announced the $175 billion "Golden Dome" missile defense system, a space- and ground-based shield intended to intercept missiles fired at the United States from anywhere in the world.
The system, inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome but vastly larger in scale, will combine ground and space-based sensors and interceptors, marking the first time the U.S. would deploy weapons in space.
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released an unclassified assessment titled "Golden Dome for America: Current and Future Missile Threats to the U.S. Homeland" on May 13.
Depicting threats a sophisticated missile defense system for the United States would defend against, the DIA said "the product presents the agency’s unclassified intelligence on adversary missile threats and capabilities."
United States announced it completed its new nuclear bomb
The document profiles the missile threat and inventories in six categories: intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, two types of hypersonic weapons, land attack cruise missiles, and fractional orbital bombardment systems.
The DIA said: "In the coming decade, missile threats to the U.S. Homeland from more advanced conventional- and nuclear-capable delivery systems will expand in scale and sophistication."
During a press conference on Tuesday (May 20), President Trump said the Golden Dome system would be operational within three years, before the end of his term, and appointed Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations, to lead the project.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a statement: "The Golden Dome will progressively protect our nation from aerial attacks from any foe. Within the last four decades, our adversaries have developed more advanced and lethal long-range weapons than ever before, including ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles capable of striking the homeland with either conventional or nuclear warheads.
The United States shot down a hypersonic missile in a show of force recently. (Missile Defense Agency via SWNS)
"Golden Dome is designed to leverage some past investments but will also use next-generation technology to defend against the evolving and complex threat landscape."
Major defense and technology firms, including SpaceX, are competing for contracts, with the administration already allocating $25 billion in the next defense budget.
It comes in the week, the United States announced it completed its new nuclear bomb, nearly a year ahead of schedule.
The B61-13 weapon features a maximum yield of 360 kilotons - 24 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
The first unit was unveiled on Monday (May) in Amarillo, Texas, by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.
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