Golden Dome: America’s Answer to the Hypersonic Threat
By Taylor Hathorn
April 03, 2025
Hypersonic Missiles, the Golden Dome, and America’s Role in Reshaping a North American Defense Cooperation
The rapid evolution of missile technology rarely captures public attention, but within the defense community, the era of surprise over next-generation weapons is long past. Still, the advent of hypersonic missiles represents a significant shift—one that demands renewed scrutiny and strategic recalibration.
These missiles travel faster than five times the speed of sound, can maneuver mid-flight, and are incredibly unpredictable. Even setting aside their near immunity to current missile defense systems, hypersonic weapons present a fundamental challenge to established strategic assumptions. Traditional missile defense is calibrated to counter ballistic threats—projectiles that follow predictable, high-arc trajectories, like those intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome. Hypersonics, by contrast, maneuver unpredictably at low altitudes and extreme speeds, rendering them both elusive and destabilizing. They may resemble a technological marvel, but in the context of great power competition, they are anything but a toy.
The operational implications are significant. Hypersonic weapons are not only harder to track and intercept—they expand the threat envelope to include both forward-deployed forces and civilian populations. In response, systems like the proposed Golden Dome aim to integrate advanced sensors and AI-driven interception capabilities to meet this emerging challenge. The goal is clear: shift interception points from urban centers like New York City to far earlier in the threat trajectory—ideally, over the Atlantic.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2025/04/03/golden_dome_americas_answer_to_the_hypersonic_threat_1101683.html
