Golden Dome

Prelims:  Current events of national and international importance.

Why in news?

Recently, President of United States revealed the ambitious ‘Golden Dome’ project a $175-billion futuristic missile defence shield using space-based interceptors.

• Golden Dome – It is a multi-layered Air defence system intended to protect U.S against air warfare.
• It is a sophisticated integration of existing proven defense systems rather than entirely new space-based weapons.
• It is inspired on Israel’s Iron Dome, but expanded to cover land, sea, air, and space.

The Iron Dome is Israel’s missile defence system which detects an incoming rocket, determines its path, and intercepts it.

• Goal - To protect the U.S. homeland using an advanced, multi-layered air and missile defense system
• It can detect and intercept cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, drones, whether they’re conventional or nuclear
• Timeline - It is planned to launch by January 2029.
• Space-based system – Thousands of small satellites to detect and intercept missiles from orbit—first of its kind.
• Interceptors in space – The system may deploy anti-missile interceptors in space to neutralize threats during the early launch phase.
• Real-time surveillance – It uses space-based sensors and radar to monitor global missile threats 24/7.
• Multi-Domain defense – It integrates land, sea, air, and space tech for a layered defense.
• It is likely to use AI algorithms, data fusion, and real-time decision-making tools for fast threat detection and neutralization.

• Concerns – It violates of principles of peaceful use of space and space-based weapons could violate Outer Space Treaty.

• It could trigger a new space-based arms race, with nations developing counter-space capabilities

Reference

The Indian Express| Golden Dome

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