As I read a variety articles that criticize President Trump's Golden Dome defense of America, and especially the potential role of space-based defenses, I can’t but recall the same criticisms of President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) . . . and Yogi Berra's famous quips, and note that it's just "Déjà vu all over again."
Nowhere is this fact made clearer than in Bill Gertz’s excellent Aug. 19 Washington Times article, "China Blasts Golden Dome as Space Defense," which also appeared as the Aug. 20 lead front page article.
I heard all the same arguments from many of the same critics over three decades ago, when I was President Reagan’s Defense and Space Negotiator with the Soviet Union, charged with defending his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
And as I have reviewed in numerous Newsmax articles, contrary to the claims of these critics, the SDI efforts validated U.S. technology that the Soviets could not match, and provided negotiating leverage for gaining historic arms reductions in offensive nuclear forces.
And as the Soviet Union was breaking up, Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher observed that "SDI ended the Cold War without firing a shot."
Without question, we could have deployed space-based interceptors three decades ago. But we were blocked from doing so by leading congressional Democrats and the Clinton administration, as I also have previously noted.
It's hard to believe that the "powers that be" have forgotten these facts, but it appears they either never understood what was possible or have fallen prey to false arguments that space-based defenses would be far too expensive . . . or that they would be of limited capability anyway, a gross error.
As reported in my previously discussed 1995 Heritage Foundation Report, multiple highly qualified technical reviews of the Brilliant Pebbles space-based interceptor system found it to be credible.
Note also that the Pentagon’s independent costing authorities previously concluded that the development, testing deployment and 20 years operation of 1000 Brilliant Pebbles would cost $10 billion in 1989 dollars.
Consider the shot opportunities provided by such a "BP" constellation, and imagine how many surface-based defense systems would be required to match this global capability.
(Note: "post-apogee intercept capabilities" can potentially intercept first generation near term hypersonic threats in the upper atmosphere.)
So . . . how do you think the Golden Dome should invest its funds?
To quote from that important 1995 Heritage report, supported by a broad cross-section of technical experts and political authorities:
"A constellation of 1000 space-based interceptors would put five interceptors within the range to destroy a 5500 mile-range missile in its boost phase.
"It would put 30-35 interceptors within the range to demolish the same missile in its post-boost phase. Finally, it would put 125-135 interceptors to have three independent opportunities (shoot-look-shoot-look-shoot) within range to destroy the missile in its mid-course phase.
"In addition, there would be multiple opportunities to destroy intermediate-range and medium-range missiles because they travel outside the atmosphere for a sufficient length of time.
"As the missile range decreases, however, these intercept opportunities occur later in the missile’s flight.
"Improvements in initial interceptor designs (suitably modified for high acceleration operations) could extend the boost phase capability at least to the longer-range, longer burn time end of the theater missile threat spectrum."
If this was what 1995 technology could accomplish, have we learned nothing in the three subsequent decades that would improve these already impressive capabilities?
Henry F. Cooper, a Ph.D. engineer was Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative during the GHW Bush administration and Ambassador and Chief U.S. Negotiator at the Geneva Defense and Space Talks during the Reagan administration. Read More of Dr. Cooper's Reports - Here.
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