Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations has compared U.S. President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense program to a “protection racket” after Trump said his northern neighbor can pay $61 billion to join the program or it could be free if the country agrees to annexation.
I think it’s because the threat model against which a Golden Dome defends is just not that plausible any longer. Given the distances, a space-based ground defense can only protect from long-range attacks, like ICBMs. Unlike in the 80s, the technology to intercept and destroy ICBMs safely is now probably there, but the threat of all out nuclear war is much reduced.
You don’t think we’ll ever need some form of space defense?
We may very well in the future, of course! But maybe at the rate technology develops, it could be smarter to start working on it when the threat becomes visible.
I venture the uneducated guess that satellite to satellite might be the next space defense frontier ahead of space to ground.
Yeah satellite to satellite is definitely feasible and I think already being developed.
I just wouldn’t want to be late to the party when other countries have already started establishing viable space to ground weaponry. We take for granted that a lot of the domestic stability that the US is privileged to is due to an advanced military. Not saying we shouldn’t focus our money on more important things, but maintaining our status as a military superpower is unfortunately very important.