New Delhi:
US President Donald Trump has vowed to make ‘Golden Dome’ on the lines of Israeli’s ‘Iron Dome’ missile defense. He said that he is going to lay the foundation of “the most powerful army of the future”. He said in a joint meeting of the American Congress that the first step for this would have to be given funds for the “shield (shield)” to protect the motherland “.
That is, Trump wants to make American shield against ballistic missiles. But preparing this missile defense is not so easy. It is one of the most complex arms systems in terms of design, development and its operation.
He claimed that the 40th President of America Ronald Reagan (he was President from 1981 to 1989) wanted to create one such defense system. But then they had a lack of technology to do this. Trump said, “Israel and other countries have this … and America should also have it.”
Trump was probably referring to strategic defense initiative. It was announced by Reagan in 1983 to rescue the US by stopping and killing Russia’s intercontinental ballistic missiles. This included space-based ‘laser’ weapons to track missiles.
But there were many important technical and even moral challenges in this planning. However, when the Soviet Union (immediate Russia) disintegrated in 1991, this program was left behind, no further work was done.
A ballistic missile defense shield tracks an upcoming missile and kills it in the air, that is, a kind of armor. It contains interlock systems that are designed to detect ballistic weapons, track and prevent them. The objective is clear- kill before setting the missile.
Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’. What is in it?
There are many parts in a ballistic missile defense shield. America is going to do the same.
Space based infrared system
Start with space based infrared system (Sbirs). It helps in detecting missiles and air threats. In this system, satellites of Sbirs (who are moving in space) give initial warnings of a launched missile and send information to the radar on the ground. Without them, it becomes almost impossible to detect the launch of the upcoming ballistic missile.
Ground-based midcourse defense
Ground-based midcourse defense or GMD is the backbone of America’s defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles. GMD uses interceptors posted on the ground in Alaska and California to prevent the upcoming missiles during their middle phase itself.
Aegis is a ballistic missile defense, or BMD, a sea and ground-based system that uses warships to kill a small to medium-range ballistic missiles.
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense
Terminal is high altitude area defense, or thad, a moving ground-based system. This prevents small, medium and intermediate distance ballistic missiles in their terminal phase. Thaad uses hit-to-cil technology. That is, these defense missiles collide face to face to destroy the upcoming missiles in the air itself.
The special thing is that Israel also has the THAAD system. It was used in December last year when it was allegedly fired by Iran -backed rebel group, Huti, a ballistic missile from Yemen. With this help, the missile was stopped by Israel.
A standard Thaad resembles a truck that includes six launchers, a radar and a fire control system with eight interceptors. Its radar can detect hazards up to 3,000 km away.
For short-range ballistic missiles and other air threats in the terminal stage, the US Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3), depends on interceptor missiles. These are also part of China’s plan to combat China’s hypersonic weapons possible deployment in the Pacific region.
Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’
Now we also know the ‘Iron Dome’ of Israel. The development of Israeli missile defense shield began in 2007. It started working by 2011. This is a system of many stage with ‘Iron Dome’ at the center. The second stage is the ‘David Sling’ for long distance long-range missiles from the middle, as well as Arrow-2 and Aer-3, which kills long distance ballistic missiles.
America funded half of the expenses in developing Arrow 2 system in the year. By 2020, America’s financial contribution to the total aur weapon systems had exceeded $ 3.7 billion.
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