WASHINGTON, April 15. /TASS/. The Golden Dome missile defense system that the US wants to build will not be able to provide the US with an impenetrable shield against Russia or China, according to Thomas Countryman, board chairman of the US-based Arms Control Association
The analyst, who served as acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security from 2016-2017 made the statement at an online workshop.
"The Golden Dome will never work," he said. "The expansion by the Trump administration of a limited proposal to defend against certain limited threats, and to try to turn it into an impenetrable shield to protect all of America against all missile threats, is utterly unrealistic and can be overwhelmed by the much cheaper option on the part of China or Russia or anyone else of simply building a lot more missiles."
On January 28, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to develop a new national missile defense system. The Financial Times reported that the system envisages, among other things, the deployment of interceptors in outer space, which would be equipped with lasers to destroy nuclear weapons. According to the report, Trump tasked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with presenting a plan for a deployment of the system.
General Gregory Guillot, who is the commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said on April 9 that the Golden Dome system will be designed to counter threats from hypersonic systems.