Golden Dome for America

exclaimedleech8 said:
Then they make their missiles so that they deploy all their warheads and decoys while in the atmosphere.
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That would massively reduce range and payload, while massively increasing cost (see Avangard SS-19), which is a major win in itself.

Space-based endo-atmospheric interceptors are also part of Golden Dome too.
 
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exclaimedleech8 said:
Then they make their missiles so that they deploy all their warheads and decoys while in the atmosphere.
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That's the terminal phase - the last one. The boost phase comes before that - the first phase.
exclaimedleech8 said:
The biggest one is we don't know exactly what sort of countermeasures Russia and China might put on their ICBMs.
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You mean we don't know what they WILL put. Not what they might put. We know what they might put. And we can plan accordingly. Make capability excess.

An enemy's chance of success is much lower when you have defenses, regardless of what the enemy has. Because <100% is always less than 100%.
Once you have something set up, you can take the initiative and increase the information you gather from an enemy, then refine your system accordingly. Either way, a lot of the Golden Dome architecture is independent of China's choice of decoys.
 
exclaimedleech8 said:
Then they make their missiles so that they deploy all their warheads and decoys while in the atmosphere.
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It would SERIOUSLY affect accuracy, and make lightweight inflatable decoys & chaffs useless - since they would be slowed down by air friction while climbing, and their trajectories would be wildly off.
 
exclaimedleech8 said:
But we still haven't solved the absentee ratio problem which would be worsened considerably if Russia and China developed missiles with shorter boost and post boost phases.
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Just use more Pebbles, or embiggen the boosters on the Pebbles.
The Absentee ratio problem is overstated; Pebbles is one layer of a layered defense, and absentees are a reserve force. The constellation degrades gracefully no matter the scale of the attack, and can remain operational through multiple exchanges and inflict continuous attrition against fresh salvoes.
 
Big_Zukini said:
That's the terminal phase - the last one. The boost phase comes before that - the first phase.
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Nope, this was brought up 40 years ago in the discussion of Star Wars; ICBMs could be built to transition from post-boost to midcourse while still in the atmosphere.

chimeric oncogene said:
Just use more Pebbles, or embiggen the boosters on the Pebbles.
The Absentee ratio problem is overstated; Pebbles is one layer of a layered defense, and absentees are a reserve force. The constellation degrades gracefully no matter the scale of the attack, and can remain operational through multiple exchanges and inflict continuous attrition against fresh salvoes.
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Dilandu said:
It would SERIOUSLY affect accuracy, and make lightweight inflatable decoys & chaffs useless - since they would be slowed down by air friction while climbing, and their trajectories would be wildly off.
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All of this gets back to the cost-exchange problem, especially since the promoters are claiming this shield will be 100% effective.
Big_Zukini said:
Once you have something set up, you can take the initiative and increase the information you gather from an enemy, then refine your system accordingly. Either way, a lot of the Golden Dome architecture is independent of China's choice of decoys.
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But it goes both ways: China could also gather intelligence of GD's vulnerabilities and design accordingly. And China's spy satellites will have no problems taking pictures of the battle stations while in orbit.

As I noted in an earlier post, one of the proposed SDI systems: nuclear pumped lasers, would be an excellent way to defeat space based defenses. You fire just one missile into space and aim the lasing rods, fire the weapon, and destroy dozens of satellites simultaneously
 
"Golden Dome" is obviously a reference to the Israeli Iron Dome, but Israel doesn't just rely on interceptors to protect its people from rocket attack, it also has a large number of blast shelters.
 
Forest Green said:
Hit them in boost phase and it won't matter.
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That too.


exclaimedleech8 said:
Nope, this was brought up 40 years ago in the discussion of Star Wars; ICBMs could be built to transition from post-boost to midcourse while still in the atmosphere.
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If you're popping the bus while still in atmosphere that greatly reduces range.


exclaimedleech8 said:
As I noted in an earlier post, one of the proposed SDI systems: nuclear pumped lasers, would be an excellent way to defeat space based defenses. You fire just one missile into space and aim the lasing rods, fire the weapon, and destroy dozens of satellites simultaneously
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Those are screamingly expensive to build.

Because they need a separate beam pointer for each lasing rod.
 
Moose said:
[Citation Needed]
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Referenced multiple times in this thread:

Post #751
The plan is encapsulated in preliminary “lines of effort” (LOEs) provided to industry last month and obtained by Breaking Defense. The LOEs cover two types of prototype interceptors: endo-atmospheric, designed to shoot down incoming missiles before they leave the atmosphere, and exo-atmospheric, designed to hit them just after they pass over the notional line into space and achieve 120 kilometers (74.6 miles) in altitude.
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Sferrin said:
You'd probably want to use different interceptors for endo / exoatmospheric employment. The one that has to reenter the atmosphere to go after its target ain't gonna be cheap.
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Not to mention that it will have to slow down from orbital velocity to Mach 10 ish. Or less, depending on what needs to happen for sensors to be able to see the target.
 
What about very high altitude drones? Given warning of an attack, they could quickly be launched on the tips of SAMs, deployed, and be ready to intercept warheads in terminal phase. Because they would remain in a constant location over CONUS, the absenteeism problem is fixed, there's no vulnerability to ASATs, and because they'd be targeting terminal phase, decoys wouldn't be an issue, they'd burn up upon re-entry.
 
exclaimedleech8 said:
What about very high altitude drones? Given warning of an attack, they could quickly be launched on the tips of SAMs, deployed, and be ready to intercept warheads in terminal phase. Because they would remain in a constant location over CONUS, the absenteeism problem is fixed, there's no vulnerability to ASATs, and because they'd be targeting terminal phase, decoys wouldn't be an issue, they'd burn up upon re-entry.
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Physics says hi
 
Japan to Announce Participation in U.S. “Golden Dome” Missile Defense Initiative at Japan-U.S. Summit... Aiming to Enhance Capabilities Against China and Russia
www.yomiuri.co.jp

米ミサイル防衛構想「ゴールデン・ドーム」参加、日米首脳会談で表明へ…中露への対処力向上狙い

【読売新聞】　政府は、ワシントンで今月予定される日米首脳会談で、米国が進める次世代型ミサイル防衛構想「ゴールデン・ドーム」への参加を伝える方向で調整に入った。迎撃ミサイルの共同開発や衛星網の構築で連携し、中国やロシアが開発を進める極
www.yomiuri.co.jp www.yomiuri.co.jp
The government has begun making arrangements to announce its participation in the U.S. “Golden Dome” next-generation missile defense initiative at the Japan-U.S. summit scheduled for this month in Washington. The aim is to enhance the ability to counter hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) and other weapons currently being developed by China and Russia through cooperation on the joint development of interceptor missiles and the construction of a satellite network.
 
Our greatest vulnerability is our reliance on heavily refined petroleum-based fuels for transportation. Even in peacetime, a single hurricane hitting the Gulf coast will cause shortages of gasoline.

And yet, Trump is reducing incentives for EVs and rolling back fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles.
 
GTX said:
(Debrief: The Cost Of Golden Dome Is Growing, But By How Much? Aviation Week Network)
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Entirely foreseeable as evidenced by many posts in this very thread, backed up by expert sources. Not that these systems shouldn't be studied, enabled and developed.
 
UpForce said:
Entirely foreseeable as evidenced by many posts in this very thread, backed up by expert sources. Not that these systems shouldn't be studied, enabled and developed.
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ABMs have been studied, enabled, and developed since the 1960s and the conclusion continues to be they are too expensive and unreliable to be depended on in a nuclear war. Any effective defense is going to need to rely on something more exotic like railguns, lasers, and neutral particle beams
 
exclaimedleech8 said:
ABMs have been studied, enabled, and developed since the 1960s and the conclusion continues to be they are too expensive and unreliable to be depended on in a nuclear war. Any effective defense is going to need to rely on something more exotic like railguns, lasers, and neutral particle beams
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Part of the "too expensive" issue was the cost of getting things into orbit. That's been changed.
 
Pentagon Set To Unveil ‘Generational’ $1.5 Trillion Spending Plan
Brian Everstine March 20, 2026

The Golden Dome plan includes existing systems as well as new technologies at an increasing cost.
Credit: U.S. Missile Defense Agency

The Pentagon is set to take the covers off its “generational investment” in procurement and research and development as part of a $1.5 trillion budget, and despite the major uptick in spending, there are still hard decisions to be made.
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Pentagon Set To Unveil ‘Generational’ $1.5 Trillion Spending Plan | Aviation Week Network

The record-high defense top line is intended to grow aircraft fleets, increase munition buys and bolster missile defenses.
aviationweek.com aviationweek.com
 
exclaimedleech8 said:
Our greatest vulnerability is our reliance on heavily refined petroleum-based fuels for transportation. Even in peacetime, a single hurricane hitting the Gulf coast will cause shortages of gasoline.

And yet, Trump is reducing incentives for EVs and rolling back fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles.
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Gas is now $4.99 where I live. Imagine if we had a much bigger war
 
Its gone from The Equivalent of $6.62 up to $7.82 for my nearest in the UK, and around 60% of that is tax filling the governments coffers, I would
Love to have the prices you have.
 

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