The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has once again removed military muscle from the Oval Office of the White House. This Tuesday, the Republican tycoon has presented at a press conference one of the star projects of his mandate: the an improved version of the antimisile shield that Israel has and in which space technology will be used that, in its words, will allow “the best system ever built”.
With an initial investment of 25,000 million dollars and a total cost that is estimated at more than 175,000 million, the system aims to become a much more ambitious interpretation than that of the Israeli, to which he has referred to more than one occasion during his appearance. “We help Israel with yours, and it has been a success. Now we have much more advanced technology,” said the president.
In addition, Donald Trump has promised that the new US defense system will be “fully operational” before he finishes his mandate and, that is, before 2029. “We will have it ready in about three years,” he said very confident. The objective, as it has stressed, is to protect the country “from any threat, either from the other side of the world or from space” and, as usual, it has not spared in drama: “We live in an evil world. This will greatly help to guarantee the survival of this great country.”
Together with Trump, standing next to the presidential desk of the Oval Office, was the Secretary of Defense, who has underlined the idea that the system will serve as a deterrent for the hostile actors who plan to attack the US. “Our enemies are going to be very aware of this. Our families are defending,” Hegseth said from the White House.
While this was happening in the Oval Office, the Pentagon published a statement indicating more details about the ‘golden dome’, such as the architecture of the system, with interceptors on land, space sensors and a surveillance satellite network, which must be integrated completely coordinated. The note also includes a calendar of a project that will be deployed in several phases, prioritizing the regions where the external threat is greater. Although the United States already has similar technologies, such as orbital sensors and terrestrial antimisile platforms, the challenge of the new system will be to achieve total integration between earth, sea and space, with almost immediate reaction capacity in front of hypersonic missiles or releases from abroad.
The shield, under political magnifying glass
Although from the White House he wanted to sell the project as a patriotic and strategic commitment, they have not taken to arrive the questions and criticism from the Congress, especially from the Democratic Party. Some of its legislators have expressed concern about the process that will open for the award of the ‘golden dome’ and also for the involvement of technology companies near Trump’s environment, as SpaceXthey elon musk; Palantir, whose founders are in the business circle of the owner of the highest shareholder of Tesla, o Sensorwhose founder designed the glasses Oculus Riftthe company that was bought in 2014 Facebook (now Meta) In 2014 for 2 billion dollars. “This is more from Silicon Valley than on the great manufacturers of traditional weapons,” republican senator Kevin Cramer has come to all companies that have been mentioned as possible contractors and that, according to Reutershe has made the alarms jump among his political rivals.
In addition, the Congress Budget Office has warned that the real cost of the ‘golden dome’ could shoot up to 831 billion dollars in the next twenty years, well above the figures presented by President Donald Trump. To this is added the uncertainty surrounding the financing of the shield: the initial 25,000 million are linked to a broader defense package of 150,000 million, which depends on the approval in the Capitol of a Budget Reconciliation Law that, for the moment, is a procedure that faces a strong political opposition.
Canada, according to Trump, has already shown interest in joining the project. “It makes all the meaning. It will not be difficult to integrate them, but they will pay their fair part,” he said, suggesting that the negotiations are still in a preliminary phase. Among the US territories that will benefit directly from the ‘golden dome’ would be Alaska, Florida, Georgia and Indiana, where companies such as L3Harris, Lockheed Martin o RTX They could have a leading role in the manufacture of key components for the project.
General Michael Guetlein, of the Space Force, has been designated as responsible for the development of the program, which aims to become one of the most ambitious in the arms sector in the United States. “We are completing the work of Ronald Reagan,” Trump said, referring to the failed Star Wars program of the eighties.
