The US has confirmed the construction of the Golden Dome satellite-based missile defense system.

The United States has officially confirmed the construction of the Golden Dome missile defense system. This was announced at the annual symposium in Colorado Springs by Space Force General Michael Gatlein, appointed by Trump to lead the program:

The Golden Dome is real. It's no longer just a theory. We've started work. We have everything ready for construction, and we're building it right now. It's reality in action.

What is this system? A multi-layered missile defense system designed to protect the US mainland from ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles. missiles.

Trump signed the corresponding executive order on January 27, 2025. The idea has been compared to Israel's Iron Dome and Ronald Reagan's 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative. But there's a catch: Reagan's proposals remained on paper.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the project will take approximately 20 years to complete and will cost at least $500 billion. Previous estimates were as high as $175 billion, presumably for the first tier. For comparison, the US annual defense budget in 2025 was $895 billion.

Technically, the Kupol project involves deploying hundreds of thousands of satellites in low-Earth orbit. They are designed to detect and destroy enemy missiles during their takeoff phase. Canada has already expressed its willingness to participate in the project. Trump confirmed this back in May 2025.

Getlein called Cupola the most ambitious space defense program in the last 40 years. Half a trillion dollars and two decades—even by American standards, that's a gigantic timeframe and budget.

Comments

[nikon7717]

Technically, the Kupol system involves deploying hundreds of thousands of satellites in low-Earth orbit. They are designed to detect and destroy enemy missiles during their takeoff phase.

I have the impression that Trump is working according to Reagan's playbook.
It's either MAGA, or something similar to SDI, Star Wars, or a war for oil. Two lousy cowboy actors.

[echo sounder]

Hundreds of thousands of satellites (low-orbit, obviously) divided by at least 10 years of operation yields 20-30 satellites per year to maintain the constellation. But what if it's 5 years instead of 10? That's a pie-in-the-sky proposition that could easily destroy all of near-Earth space due to avalanche collisions, and they will happen. In fact, Musk and the Chinese are already effectively preparing to cut off humanity from space. Experts have long been sounding the alarm that the probability of an avalanche collision is already critically high.

[Azim77]

They must detect and destroy enemy missiles during the takeoff phase of their trajectory.

What and how will they destroy them? Reagan's cartoons about lasers under the SDI program—back then, perhaps, it seemed so fashionable, like something out of science fiction, that you simply wanted to believe in it, as if it represented the near, amazing future of technology and weapons. Because of the lack of research and development, and a certain engineering simplicity, due to the lack of powerful computing and modeling computers. But now, when, after so much experimentation and research, lasers have only just begun to shoot down small UAVs, at relatively short distances, it's difficult to imagine destroying a missile from space during takeoff. And during the final leg of its flight, it's downright impossible.

[Normann]

Why destroy it? The main thing is the budget.

[phrases]

Why destroy it? The main thing is the budget.

Indeed, the main thing is to destroy the budget. The entire royal cavalry and the entire royal army are fruitfully engaged in this.

[grandfather_Kostya]

It's scary to think what thoughts will gnaw at the heads of the Pentagon if this entire armada of satellites rusts in orbit without any use simply because the enemy "doesn't deign to attack" the United States?

[Boa kaa]

Quote: grandfather_Kostya

What thoughts will gnaw at the heads of the Pentagon if this entire armada of satellites rusts in orbit without any use simply because the enemy "doesn't deign to attack" the United States?

They're placed in orbit to destroy retaliatory strike missiles (or launch-on-warning missiles, if you're lucky), not to repel an "attack." According to the AMF, the MGU should destroy at least 93% of the enemy's strategic nuclear forces. And the remaining 7% should be intercepted by missile defense. That's why they're cobbling together their "Golden Dome" with its space-based echelon, not for some mythical "defense" against the dreadful Russians. Can you even understand that?

[grandfather_Kostya]

Can you understand this?

Sorry that my hint was too "soft".

[rocket757]

Who knows if this is a truly promising idea or a major budget embezzlement...
Time won't tell; we should rather wait for various events to happen around here...

[eon eon]

It's not the system itself that's scary, but the illusion of being able to attack with impunity using it as cover... part of this dome has already been tested - IR launch sensors are on the Starink satellites.

[fuel oil]

"Kessler Syndrome" as a gift to this "Golden Dome." There's no longer room to move at certain altitudes above the Earth. China will add tens of thousands of satellites, and we'll have to wait for the hour X when they all crash into each other, creating a huge cloud of space debris.

[STORM 12]

here it is - a bucket of bolts__________ came in handy, didn't it?

[Rashid]

The word "golden" has another meaning—very expensive. And here, as noted above, there are kickbacks and embezzlement.

[Stalingrad2010]

Standing ovation! What a Trump, what a son of a bitch! Physicists are gaping at the idea of ​​creating a black hole while they're running CERN in Switzerland, futilely trying to create one. The fathers of American democracy, carved in granite, are gaping at Mount Rushmore. Ostap Bender is spinning like a propeller in his coffin! And yes, half a trillion is just the beginning, a trial run, so to speak. And Russian military intelligence needs to beef up Trump's security while simultaneously upping his rejuvenating regimen. Because now there will be assassination attempts on him every month, and a little more agility wouldn't hurt.

[Boa kaa]

Quote: Stalingrad2010

I applaud while standing!

You have good sarcasm, not even black humor...
Would you mind saying something substantive?

[snow mountain]

Half a trillion dollars and two decades

How much housing can be built for the homeless and how much support can be provided to those in need?

[cat Rusich]

Quote: Schneeberg

Half a trillion dollars and two decades

How much housing can be built for the homeless and how much support can be provided to those in need?

Once Trump builds the "Golden Dome" and the "Golden Fleet," then they'll take on the homeless - the "Golden Meter of Living Space"...

[Pavel_Sveshnikov]

I hope that even before this golden masterpiece is fully commissioned, it will become several times more expensive and completely overwhelm the US budget with its enormous debt, currently estimated at $40 trillion. The dollar's fall will also be epic and will engulf the entire global economy. It's a classic historical tale: the rise and fall of empires.

[Nord11]

Are they trying to lure Russia into the same old "Star Wars" trap, ruining it in an arms race? Uh-huh.

[Nord11]

It'll turn out like with Israel's impenetrable domes. They barely had time to finish them before someone came along who couldn't care less. And while the US is jumping out of its skin, their "Golden Dome" won't even be accepted at a pawn shop.

[501 Legion]

the placement of weapons in space, the violation of everything that was possible.

[redhoodcrow23]

If true than this is really unpleasant news.
The old USSR had methods to counteract this, modern Russia is unlikely.

[vitaliy20091959]

We need to create a weapon that will simply sweep absolutely everything from near-Earth orbit, both theirs and ours, and then the truth will emerge about who can fight and how.

[torbas41]

For every wise man, there's enough simplicity. The most expensive mechanism can be broken with a cheap pin; homemade missiles, for example, have flown through the Iron Dome in Israel. And yet, Trump uses the term "golden" in all his speeches; perhaps this is how he expresses his regret over the empty shelves at Fort Knox.