Instead, the option of $ 252 billion would include additional patriotic missile batteries and air control squadrons, dozens of new generation aircraft to defend themselves against drone missile and cruise missile attacks against the main population centers, military and other key areas.
At the other end of the spectrum, Harrison writes that the “most robust anti-missile defense shield” will cost some $ 3.6 billions until 2045, almost double the cost of the Living Cycle of the F-35 Fighter Jet, the most expensive weapons program in history.
“In his oval office announcement, President Trump has established a high bar for Golden Dome, declaring that it would finish” the work that President Reagan started 40 years ago, ending the missile threat to the American homeland and that the success rate is very close to 100%, “said Harrison.
The figures necessary to reach this type of muscle defense are narcotic: 85,400 space interceptors, 14,510 new interceptors launched by air, 46,904 interceptors more launched on the surface, hundreds of new sensors on land, in the air, in sea and in space to detect incoming threats and more than 20,000 additional soldiers.
The Starship rocket of SpaceX could offer a much cheaper orbit driving for thousands of spatial missile interceptors.
Credit: SpaceX
No one has previously placed missile interceptors in space, and this will require thousands of them to even achieve the most basic objectives for Golden Dome. Another option present that Harrison in his article would focus on the jet-suivi of a limited number of space interceptors who could defend itself against a smaller attack of up to five ballistic missiles, as well as new missiles and monitoring of satellites, floor and sea interceptors and other increases in existing missile defense forces.
It would cost about $ 471 billion over the next 20 years.
Supporters of the Golden Dome Project say that it is much more feasible today for space interceptors on the ground than in the Reagan era. The commercial assembly lines now produce thousands of satellites per year, and it is cheaper to launch them today than 40 years ago.
A report published by the Office of the Budget of the Non -Sample Congress (CBO) in May examined the effect of reducing launch prices on the potential architectures of the Golden Dome. The CBO estimated that the deployment cost between 1,000 and 2,000 space interceptors would be between 30 and 40% cheaper today than the CBO found in a previous study in 2004.
But the costs only for the deployment of up to 2,000 space interceptors remain amazing, ranging from $ 161 billion to $ 542 billion over 20 years, even with the reduced launch prices today, according to the CBO. The overwhelming share of the cost today would be to develop and build the interceptors themselves, not to launch them.
