Valentine's Day from the US: The White House Urges Greenland to Decide on Relationships

According to military experts, one of the US's main goals is to use Greenland to create the "Golden Dome" missile defense system. A weapon of the future, an American dream, or reality?

Donald Trump

A year ago, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the "Golden Dome" missile defense system, which has no analogues in the world. Information about the project is classified, but some details about its development are publicly available. It is known that the project is planned to be deployed in space, with interceptors equipped with lasers to destroy nuclear weapons. It will be located on various continents, creating a kind of protective dome over the United States.

On the one hand, it sounds like the script for another American blockbuster, but on the other, it's entirely possible given modern technology. Creating such a system would cost the White House a considerable sum – over a trillion dollars. These figures only include the cost of weapons and defensive systems, not including operating expenses, research, and personnel salaries. But the United States is ready to do anything to realize the American dream. Let's take a look at who and what the United States plans to defend itself against.

Golden Dome Missile Defense System

The idea behind the Golden Dome project is to monitor airspace and near-Earth space. The goal is to promptly detect launches and ensure the interception of various types of offensive weapons not only in the Western Hemisphere, but also in northern waters and the Arctic zone. Experts argue that the real issue is not defense against nuclear weapons, but rather the development of countermeasures against Russian hypersonic weapons.

The US, like Israel, relies on "domes"—integrated systems of anti-aircraft, anti-missile, anti-drone, and other counter-attack systems—to protect against air strikes. As is well known, Israel has spent a great deal on its vaunted "dome." The results are certainly there, but debatable. They shot down some things, but not others.

The overall idea is to protect one's territory until help arrives. Israel created precisely this model for its "iron dome": to hold out until its allies—the US and other Europeans—arrived. And that's exactly what happened. During the massive attack, the help from its "friends" proved very timely, if not decisive. Without this support, the vaunted "dome" would certainly have cracked.

But Israel is a microscopic state, whose airspace can easily be covered by several divisions, even Patriot batteries and other, cheaper, missile defense and air defense systems. Therefore, it's difficult to imagine constructing a similar "dome" over the United States or, for example, Russia—gigantic expanses, spanning multiple latitudes, time zones, and dramatically different climates.

Now about Greenland. Why does the United States need the island so much? They believe it's the ideal location for deploying key components of a missile defense system. The Pentagon plans to deploy additional ground tracking stations and radar systems on Danish territory. The Navy also plans to establish a naval base to escort the nuclear submarine fleet operating in the Arctic. Furthermore, surface ships, including reconnaissance vessels and icebreakers, are planned to be stationed there.

Currently, the "Golden Dome" is not a viable model; it's merely a garish statement from American politicians. But there is still no clear technical architecture or implementation plan. US Space Force General Michael Getlein, the program's manager, acknowledged that progress is very slow. Industry experts argue that the main problem with the Golden Dome is not the weapons, but the data. The US will need to redesign its data networks and use simulations to make the system work. Furthermore, there are ongoing debates about whether to include auxiliary systems and how much access artificial intelligence will have to sensitive information.

There are many questions. Therefore, time will tell whether the American dream will become a reality. In the meantime, we will observe and analyze.