Republicans Press for ‘Golden Dome’ Missile Defense Shield

In the wake of Israel’s and the United States’ successful interception of Iranian missile strikes, Senate Republicans are renewing their push for a “Golden Dome” that would shield the United States from ballistic missiles.

The Golden Dome Act, inspired by Israel’s “Iron Dome” system, would authorize more than $23 billion “to begin developing a modernized, layered homeland missile-defense system that can counter, detect, track, and defeat existing and evolving missiles threats,” a statement from the office of Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, reads.

Sullivan’s state would play a major role in that, with the Cobra Dane radar already on Shemya Island, Alaska, being used as a detection system for incoming missiles, helping the United States intercept them.

“Our country should use and build on this technology that we’ve already developed to develop our own missile-defense system,” Sullivan said at a press conference as he praised the success of American-backed missile defense systems in Israel and Qatar.

The Golden Dome Act would set up a network of military technologies, such as space-based sensors, missile interceptors, and mobile launch systems to detect and destroy incoming missile strikes from abroad.

There is, of course, the fear of an arms race. Some foreign nuclear powers have characterized talk of a Golden Dome system as a foreign policy escalation.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, for example, accused it of starting “a global nuclear and space arms race,” and Russian Foreign Minister Maria Zakharova said it “directly undermines the foundations of strategic stability.”

Asked whether he thought the Golden Dome might lead to an arms race, Sullivan rejected the premise.

“To the people who are kind of wringing their hands like, ‘Oh, this is going to be a space race in space’—wake up,” he said. “That’s already happened.”

The Golden Dome “hopefully will take away the threat from major countries or rogue nations to come after our country,” he added. “I think it provides leverage, decision time for leaders, and it does put other countries, our adversaries, on the defensive.”

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., also jumped in, saying that U.S. Space Force Gen. B. Chance Saltzman had told him in a hearing about “a couple of very specific” offensive weapons used by the United States’ adversaries in outer space.

“The reality is, the safer the United States is, the safer the world is,” said Cramer.