Key points:
- US plans space-based shield to intercept projectiles
- $1B allocated for technology to counter hypersonic threats
- Iron Dome Act was proposed on February 6
ISLAMABAD: The United States senators, belonging to the Republican party, just green-lit funding for America’s next-generation missile defence system.
It goes with around $1B dedicated to space-based technology to counter hypersonic threats.
Unlike Reagan’s Star Wars programme, today’s technology makes the impossible possible, reported Space News.
The goal is to create a space-based shield to track and intercept any missile that poses a threat to US soil.
President Donald Trump’s plan for a next-generation missile defence system that would leverage space-based technology to counter new threats, according to Space News.
Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) introduced the “Iron Dome Act” on February 6, proposing $19.5 billion in funding for fiscal year 2026 to implement Trump’s recent executive order dubbed “Iron Dome for America.” The legislation also includes $960 million for space-based technologies.
Intercepting hypersonic missiles
The step came just days after Trump’s January 28 executive order, which directed the Pentagon to make a holistic missile defence system largely dependent on space sensors for intercepting hypersonic missiles — such as those being developed by China — which fly at very high speeds and can manoeuvre to evade traditional ground-based radar systems.
The proposed missile defence system would integrate space technologies being developed under different programmes, according to Space News.
The Missile Defence Agency’s Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) layer would deploy medium-field-of-view cameras tailored to provide exact missile tracking and targeting coordinates to anti-missile interceptors.
The Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) would maintain continuous monitoring of rival missile threats.
Space-based interceptors
However, the most controversial part of the plan demands space-based interceptors able to take out missiles during their boost phase – a significant escalation in space-based capabilities.
Defence industry experts refer to some challenges in implementing such an ambitious system. Eric Brown, a defence industry executive with experience in military space programmes, highlighted the complexity of developing a seamless network of interconnected sensors across various orbital planes.
“The Pentagon has developed many of the technologies needed for the Iron Dome, but perhaps the element with the greatest technical difficulty is stitching the fabric together,” Brown said.
Coordinating assets
A particular hurdle lies in coordinating assets from multiple agencies. “Some of those assets may be coming from the Space Force and the Space Development Agency. Some of those may be coming from the Missile Defense Agency.
Some of them may be coming from the intelligence community,” Brown explained. “How do you cross all of those lines to get a common operating picture with sufficient fidelity that you can act on it and take out a target?”
The push for space-based interceptors echoes President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) — nicknamed “Star Wars” — from four decades ago.
That programme faced criticism over its huge price tag and concerns it would destabilise relations with the Soviet Union and increase the weaponisation of space.
Cost barriers
However, analysts Tom Karako and Clayton Swope from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies argued in a recent op-ed that the technological and cost barriers that doomed SDI no longer exist.
They suggest the Pentagon should outline its needs and seek industry input to determine what’s feasible in today’s environment.
The path forward for the Iron Dome remains complicated. The Pentagon has yet to release its 2026 budget proposal, and the Secretary of Defence is supposed to make a detailed implementation plan.
The Missile Defence Agency on February 18 is scheduled to host an “Industry Day” to assess the preparedness of various technologies required to track and intercept hypersonic, ballistic, and cruise missiles, according to Space News.
The project will need unprecedented coordination, as Brown noted, “there’s been a whole bunch of different agencies, each trying to figure out its piece.”
Trump’s executive order demands a “whole of government solution from sensing through missile defeat,” setting the stage for a complex integration challenge that will test the limits of both technology and bureaucracy.
