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  • Yeah there is a lot of "bullshit" and typical Trump distraction here. I don't think satellite interceptors are ever going to come to fruition. But there are elements of the "Golden Dome" program that are very real, and very destabilising to global security, aiming to undermine the nuclear deterrent of Russia and China.

    A lot of it is actually a continuation of an Obama era idea, to focus ballistic missile defence on AEGIS warships and ground based AEGIS Ashore. The idea being that you could place an AEGIS missile destroyer or AEGIS ashore site close to your adversary, such that you could attempt an earlier intercept than launching interceptors from the continental US. The SM-3 Block II interceptor missile used in the AEGIS system has a significant altitude ceiling (around 1000km/620mi) that would allow it to theoretically be able to intercept an ICBM or IRBM for a large portion of it's climb during the first half of the midcourse phase of flight. With new radars and better early warning satellites and protocols now, including a new upgraded AN/TPY-2 radar that the US military just received as part of "Golden Dome" , this strategy becomes more viable.

    In fact, this US Navy and army tested out a similar strategy against ballistic missiles from Yemen fired towards Israel. They had an older AN/TPY-2 radar in Israel as part of the THAAD battery there, and US Navy AEGIS warships in the Red Sea, as well as early warning satellites from the space force. Dozens of SM-3 Block IB interceptors were fired at Yemeni ballistic missiles from warships in the Red Sea, to aim for an early midcourse phase intercept.

    The plan is to "scale this up" using the new upgraded AN/TPY-2 radar with double the range, and SM-3 Block IIs, for use against IRBMs or ICBMs, instead of Yemeni MRBMs. Put this upgraded AN/TPY-2 radar in East Asia, an AEGIS Ashore site in Guam and/or AEGIS missile destroyers in the Western Pacific, and theoretically you could attempt to intercept Chinese ICBMs flying over the Pacific towards the United States early in the midcourse phase. This is very destabilising, and China and Russia have said as much.

  • Wow, crazy how we just found $175 billion between the couch cushions like that for this vanity project.

    Say, maybe we could use some of that money to feed the homele- hey, where'd it all go?

    Uhh uhh what I mean to say is, maybe we should use it to feed the homeless hot lead. Oh hey, it's back all of a sudden!

  • oh boy people who know what they're talking about are explaining why something is wrong and bad, I'm sure they will be listened to and the problem will be wisely averted

  • Missed opportunity to call it Star Wars like Reagan, since that's who he's trying to larp as

    • I love the name. One of the most malleable, shitty metals. A metal so weak that people test for it by biting a coin with their teeth. It's synonymous with vanity and hubris and dumbasses dying to defend it.

      Star Wars would trick treat hogs into thinking it's cooler than 36k SpaceX satellites destroying space travel and astronomy.

      edit: And it forever ties the US to Israel in the same way that the Inglourious Basterds carved swastikas into the foreheads of Nazis.

      • Trump thinks gold is great, he's one of those old school bourgeois luxury and disgusting decadence dudes. Absolutely awful taste for everything being lined in gold just to show off. Like the Persian king of 300.

    • Also slapping Disney's logo on weapons is a small step for Trump, but huge for imperialism.

    • Lotsa people don't know this but Reagan had Star Wars but democrats ruined it. They totally ruined it. And now Israel has Iron Dome. Very, very good - okay - but only iron. We're gonna have Golden Dome. Strong and powerful and very, very attractive. Also - very, very classy...

  • Seems like it would be cheaper and more effective to position anti missile batteries near every American city. That would actually be a helluva jobs program - not very useful, but at least it's not killing anyone.

18 comments