What is the Golden Dome and how can it protect the US?
Published 6:39 am Wednesday, June 4, 2025
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The US’s quest for global leadership is not to everyone’s liking. It has created many countries that could become dangerous to America. China, Iran, Russia, North Korea – all of them possess powerful weapons that can penetrate the existing US missile defense and hit many vital targets. President Trump has announced the launch of an ambitious project called the Golden Dome to remedy the situation and protect Americans. It is expected to be the most extensive and expensive in US history. But will it live up to expectations or will it be a multi-billion-dollar failure that will not protect America from external threats?
The Golden Dome and its features
The Golden Dome is an ambitious project that is being discussed worldwide today. It should become a multi-layered defense system for America, capable of countering various air threats. The Golden Dome is expected to destroy hypersonic, cruise and ballistic missiles, thereby protecting the territory of North America.
The new air defense system will operate based on the interaction between dozens of systems. They will operate on the ground, in the air and in space, providing complete control over the situation. After the Golden Dome begins its work, it will monitor all air targets directed towards North America around the clock. If a potential threat is detected, the air defense systems will be activated, intercepting and destroying the missile at any stage of its flight.
The nuances of the grand project
Many consider the Golden Dome to be a grandiose project. Its implementation will involve everyone from the US military departments to private companies associated with the defense industry. Their joint work should provide the project with everything necessary to commission the innovative defense system promptly.
The exact start date of the Golden Dome is not specified, but its approximate cost is already known to the public. According to calculations made by the CBO, the project will cost 161-542 billion dollars. This amount is not final, since it does not consider all possible expenses. In reality, the price of the Golden Dome may increase by 2-3 times or even more. Compared to the initial investment of 20 billion allocated for 2025, the final figure looks frightening and casts doubt on the possibility of implementing an ambitious project.
The Golden Dome project plans to implement hundreds of programs. Many states, including Florida, Indiana, Alaska, and Georgia, will be involved in this process. Large-scale changes are also expected at American military bases in different North American countries. The geography may be expanded in the future. Despite inevitable disagreements with the United States, the possibility of Canada’s participation in the project is already being considered. If a favorable decision is made, the likelihood of the Golden Dome appearing on paper and in reality will be much higher.
Technologies and devices that will be used in the project
The Golden Dome is a large-scale project involving advanced technologies and devices based on them. Of course, they will not be the widely available clip-on thermal systems, weapons and protective equipment. They will be replaced by more modern devices and systems that will meet the project’s scale and requirements. Many of them are still being tested or are in the development stage, so it will be possible to learn more about them only in a few years.
The Golden Dome attracts attention with its uniqueness. This makes many companies in the defense industry offer their products to implement various programs that are part of this project. Thus, it is expected that the mobile THAAD system, F-35 fighters, and the Aegis multifunctional system will be used to operate the Golden Dome. All of them will be engaged in the neutralization of potential threats. To detect targets, it is planned to use the modern Sentinel A4 radar, the LRDR radar station, the SBIRS space-based system and much more. The project’s authors want to use the new generation NGI and the MIM-104 Patriot anti-aircraft missile system to intercept enemy missiles. Management will be carried out using C2BMC. This system will help combine all the data into a single whole and simplify decision-making on potential threats.
Of the technologies known to all, the most in-demand will be night vision and thermal imaging. They will open up unlimited possibilities for operating various systems in the dark and in extreme environmental conditions. Artificial intelligence will play an equally important role in the operation of the Golden Dome. This technology will be integrated into the operation of various equipment, affecting many key aspects.
Will the Golden Dome be a real defense for the USA?
The news that the USA could soon “cover” its territory with the Golden Dome became a sensation, and everyone began to talk about it, even potential and real enemies of America. At the same time, many were pessimistic about the prospects of this project.
Unlike the “Iron Dome” of Israel, the Golden Dome of the USA will have to cope with larger-scale threats (for example, the launch of dozens or even hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missiles). This will require massive resources and the fastest possible response to attacks that co-occur in different parts of the country. Is the Golden Dome capable of coping with such tasks? Theoretically, it is capable, but only if its functioning is debugged to the smallest detail and none of the systems fails at the most crucial moment. In reality, this isn’t easy to achieve, so even optimistic experts are not confident in the effectiveness of the Golden Dome.
Today, the Golden Dome is not a ready-made project that awaits implementation, but only an idea for protecting the United States from missile attacks by enemy countries. This allows evaluating only its potential but not its actual effectiveness. More details about the ambitious project will appear, which will help confirm the correctness of optimistic or pessimistic forecasts.
The Golden Dome is an ambitious project that could protect the USA from massive missile attacks in the future. It should combine all the best that is available to humanity and become the standard of a modern defense system. However, for now, all this is just a theory, since the effectiveness of the Golden Dome has not been proven. This project could even become a multi-billion-dollar failure that many generations of Americans will remember. The world will find out which version will be correct only in a few years. For now, all interested people can do is wait and watch for new details of the intriguing project.