Posted on 02/16/2025 7:01:54 AM PST by RoosterRedux
"So let me tell you at the outset, the president is using the term ‘Iron Dome’ as a metaphor," rocket scientist Ari Sacher said during an interview on FOX Business' "Mornings with Maria" Monday. "It's perfect for defending Israel from Gaza, Lebanon, it is not something that the United States needs very much."
In President Trump's first few weeks in office, he signed a slew of executive orders, with one focused on the construction of an American Iron Dome. The order addressed the need for the implementation of a next-generation missile defense shield to protect the homeland "against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks," as well as to "further the goals of peace through strength."
Sacher explained that when it comes to missile defense, the U.S. needs a more extensive system than Israel's to grapple with distant adversaries.
...
"What the president is looking at is something that probably would be called space-based intercept. You bring up a whole bunch of interceptors into outer space, and the whole intercept will take place in outer space. So if you want to call it ‘Iron Dome’ or you want to call it ‘Fred,’ doesn't make a difference, it's not [an] Iron Dome."
...
However achieved, Sacher believes that the American Iron Dome's chances of success are "excellent," and that "the U.S. has a tremendous amount of engineers and gumption." The expert also pointed out the threats that U.S. missile defense could address with the more complex shield compared to that of the Israeli system.
"We're talking about Korea and points west, China's even farther. That's the threats America has to look at, our near-peer threats."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
For starters move the Pentagon inland. A good way to get people to quit.
Here in the USA, complexity is built into everything we do.
Neer beer? I love neer beer lol (actually not- yuck)
oooooo SDI it really is the 80s again. The Don is Reagan part III and it is glorious.
You would still need an Iron Dome type terminal defense around high value targets to catch the inevitable leakers even with a robust SDI and Exooatmospheric terminal phase, you still need an endo phase to grab the ones that leak past the first three interceptions attempts. You want a full system of boost phase interceptors, SDI in the mid phase, ground launched multiple kill vehicle based exo, and once the reentry events happen theat start to strip out most of the decoys you need ground launched terminal endo phase as well. Iron Dome, PAC2 and THAAD all could be used for the endo and some lower exo for THAAD. Ground launched SM3 for exo and AMa for endo also an option.
To protect cities you need trillions in multiple layers plus the radars, IR launch detections and more importantly IR tracking sats to feed the SDI and EXO killers the endos have their own radars also scattered about the country side. Each major city is going to need who batteries of PAC2 and THAADs or SM3/6s thousands of birds across the country side. Look at the cold war and the Nike series of interceptors just for bomber bases, then the Spartan and Sprint sites too just for the silos then multiply that by 25 or so to protect key cities, refineries and bases. Then add in look down radars either on 24/7 flying AWACs or balloon aerostat hung radars to see ground hugging cruise missiles, drones and now low level hypersonics too. During the cold war we had aerostats and OTH back scatter radars looking for cruise missiles those were all killed in the 90s it’s hideously expensive. Missile defense is at least a trillion dollars just to cover the bases and D.C. Double that for say the first top ten major cities.
It would be much cheaper to do as the Russians do and build deep mile ling subways that double as fallout shelters with a year’s worth of food and water in them. Moscow and St Petersburg both have bunker space for all their citizens in the miles and miles of tunnels with blast doors at the ends and at the portals to the stations to seal them up. Only Moscow has active air defenses for ballistics and those are expected to be overwhelmed they buy time to get the people underground.
Sounds like what Reagan called SDI.
Democrats following orders from Moscow tenaciously fought against SDI and won.
End the war in the Ukraine, end the war in Syria, end the war in Gaza, then buy a whole new huge project from the MIC to replace them. This was absolutely predictable and right on time. The MIC OWNS this nation period. They are NEVER going to let us get out of debt.
The purpose is to protect against Iranian and North Korean warheads.
The Iranians might be able to make about 12 a year. I guess the North Koreans might be able to make about 5 a year.
Well, Mr. Expert, you don’t say? I would have expected that, too. I guess I’m an expert, too, and didn’t even know it.
Many Russian cities have many 60-year-old tower blocks that were junk when built.
Excellent. The left will whine that space based technology could be used for offensive capabilities etc etc.
It’s a phony excuse that is bogus based on our history in reasonably dealing with other countries. We should make no excuses in taking steps to defend ourselves.
In parallel we need improved means to deal with terrorist threats using dirty bombs or suitcase nukes deployed on our homeland. This one is complex given the dems’ history of surveillance abuse.
Pretty good layout.
But it doesn’t really work. ABM concepts have been around for decades. We remain vulnerable to nuclear warheads because of the ugly reality that they cannot be stopped.
ICBMs have always been hypersonic. What has always been known, but only recently focused upon, is the plasma that forms around missiles at that velocity. Plasma is not reflective at 3 GHz. It is auto-stealth.
Further, consider that about 70% of US warheads are on submarines and only 40% of Russia’s. This is because of the Russian geographic advantage. Non submarine US warheads are on ICBMs and bombers, but not many given only 30% remain after the submarine allocation. All because distance to our inland from the coasts is short. Russian submarine launches do not provide much warning inbound. In contrast, US submarine launches have a long way to travel, detected, and of course the Russian ICBMs are mobile. Targeting their last satellite detected position is useless. They move around.
And so, I applaud your attempt to quantify price tag for some sort of missile defense. It would be trillions, not singular. Much as is true of the Ukraine situation — $37 Trillion in interest bearing debt defines a basic truth: we can’t afford it.
Can warheads be made undetectable?
If they can, then defense is impractical.
This reminds me of Microsoft over the years. Every time someone improved computer tech to make them faster Microsoft would purposely gobble up that new speed and call it theirs and slow it right back down again with bloat. We may as well just stay in all the wars if the MIC is going just gobble up all of those savings in a different direction anyhow. We don’t even need this. We have MAD and it is plenty strong as a deterrent already. This is the MIC trying to keep themselves in business. No one is going to try anything, this is a bullshirt sales pitch here and we would be absolutely stupid to fall for it.
And it looks like we are... Iron Dome! Ooh Rah!
The penta is never expected to survive.The real strategic command where the actual launch orders come from is at the GOC back up too Cheyenne Mountain via the underground complex for USSTRATCOM outside Omaha double back up is airborne on the E6B and EC135C doomsday aircraft. In any real scenario those two aircraft are the only expected survivors as there are 20 megaton ground bursts headed for all of the ground and underground complexs none will survive modern direct hit level accuracy with weapons of those sizes each hit digs the crater half a mile deeper it’s only a matter of how many hits to dig deep enough. The SS18 was designed specifically to take out Cheyenne Mountain and Omaha then shower 30+ high yield silo busting warheads three at a time on each minuteman plus triple on the LC centers for each silo battery. The fallout alone from those SS18 ground bursts kills 100+ million down wind. The SS18 is being replaced by a monster of an ICBM larger and with even more throw weight in theory the SATAN II can lob a 50 megaton ground burst or 40+ 1 megaton MIRVs really it probably will lob hypersonic multiple carrier vehicles with 6-8 multiple warheads on each maneuvering HGV or yeah a mountain busting big boy warhead to dig out Cheyenne Mountain which is the reason the super sized ICBM was created in rhe cold war.
The Pentagon is for the upper echelon of the military political class to interface with the civilian leadership it’s a VIP area not a strategic action center those are well away from the coasts so even depressed trajectory SLBM have a ten min flight time so the orders can get out before they get splashed.
If the U.S. were to develop its own version of Iron Dome or an advanced missile defense system, could it function independently of the European continent? Yes, but... incorporating Europe as a first line of defense would significantly enhance its effectiveness, particularly against long-range threats.
The U.S. faces different missile threats than Israel, with ICBMs, cruise missiles, and hypersonic weapons from enemies like IRAN, Russia, China, and North Korea.
A future Iron Dome-like system in the U.S. would likely focus on short-to-medium-range threats, defending critical infrastructure from drones, cruise missiles, or hypersonic vehicles.
Without Europe, U.S. missile defense would rely primarily on Alaska, the Pacific, and space-based tracking, reducing early-warning time for incoming threats.
Europe is vital for an enhanced missile defense:
Forward radar stations in Europe (UK, Norway, Greenland) provide earlier detection of missile launches from Russia, increasing the reaction time for U.S. defenses.
Aegis Ashore sites in Poland and Romania serve as a critical first line of interception against ballistic missiles targeting NATO and the U.S.
If the U.S. fully integrates Europe into its missile defense system, threats from Russia and parts of the Middle East can be intercepted much earlier, allowing a layered defense approach.
To my understanding the U.S. already has Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, and THAAD, which can function independently of Europe.
However, incorporating European assets would enable the U.S. to track, engage, and intercept threats before they even reach American soil.
Future space-based sensors (HBTSS) and additional Arctic radar stations could help compensate for a lack of European defenses, but at a higher cost and complexity.
THEREFORE:
The U.S. has already heavily integrated its missile defense with NATO, meaning that withdrawing from European cooperation would weaken both American and allied security.
If the U.S. shifts its focus away from Europe, it would have to rely more on the Pacific, Japan, South Korea, and Guam, stretching its resources.
A combined U.S.-European defense system provides layered protection, ensuring that threats are intercepted before reaching American airspace.
THUS:
While a U.S. Iron Dome-like system could function without Europe, incorporating European radar stations, Aegis Ashore sites, and early interception capabilities would make the system far more effective. Europe acts as a buffer zone, allowing for earlier detection and interception, reducing the burden on U.S. homeland defenses. A cooperative missile shield between the U.S. and Europe is the most effective strategy for countering modern missile threats.
Bad idea, a huge waste of money.
Dood, 40% of Russian warheads are on submarines. They will wipe out any radar network because of plasma and near zero warning. They will do so on US coasts.
And submarines in the Atlantic firing westward or in the Pacific firing eastward both have one thing in common.
They don’t care about Europe.
“It would be much cheaper to do as the Russians do and build deep mile ling subways that double as fallout shelters with a year’s worth of food and water in them.”
DC and NYC have miles of subway tunnels already.
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