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Business Standard
13 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trump's 'Golden Dome' still shrouded in mystery, even for its builders
The companies expected to create President Donald Trump's 'Golden Dome for America' know the objective: to protect the US from missiles and airborne threats. They know it means billions of dollars' worth of contracts. But they don't know much about what, exactly, they are expected to do — and at an event last week, the government officials who might tell them weren't even allowed to mention the project by name. Attendees at the 28th annual Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, saw signs early on that the topic on everyone's minds might be tricky to discuss. Before the event even began, the industry groups hosting it removed a Golden Dome-focused panel. 'Information regarding Golden Dome for America will be promulgated by the government,' they said. Major defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin Corp., RTX Corp. and Northrop Grumman, prepared slick websites and flashy sideshows for the conference to demonstrate how their work fits with the president's vision for an air and missile defense network protecting the entire US. Their executives were all singing the same tune: The project is so ambitious and potentially lucrative that there's a role for everyone, and plenty of opportunity for collaboration, including between startups and nontraditional defense companies. Just don't ask the government for details. 'In the last six months I've walked into many, many rooms and said, 'I can't take any questions on you-know-what,' and I've never received a question other than something about you-know-what,' Air Force Lieutenant General Heath Collins, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said to laughter after delivering closing remarks at the event. Golden Dome will include existing systems, accelerated development of advanced technology, and ultimately new components such as space-based interceptors, according to Trump, who announced his plan for the programme in one of his first executive orders after returning to the presidency. He also has said the project will be fully operational before the end of his term and will cost $175 billion. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the price tag for a network of space-based interceptors could be as high as $542 billion over 20 years. Space Force General Michael Guetlein, who is leading the project, is expected to unveil its architecture by mid-September. At the conference, industry representatives showcased their hardware, including RTX's Patriot missile defense system, which uses Lockheed Martin's PAC-3 MSE interceptor, and Northrop Grumman's Integrated Battle Command System, as they sought insight from the government on how the pieces will fit together. Companies also pointed to the work they or their corporate predecessors had done on President Ronald Reagan's space-based Strategic Defense Initiative - the so-called 'Star Wars' missile defense program that fizzled in the 1980s — saying they were up for the challenge of making it work 40 years later. Riki Ellison, founder and chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said on the sidelines of the symposium that not being able to speak openly about an 'executive order that is out in the public, that we're going to build this in three years for $175 billion — it just delays this process and puts more pressure to get this thing in play.' None of the industry or academic sources interviewed for this article knew why there were such restrictions. In a statement, the Pentagon declined to disclose further information because of operational concerns, saying only that the Defense Department is gathering information to support Golden Dome. The Pentagon has declined so far to detail which organisation compiled the $175 billion estimate, how many years it covered, an annual breakdown of the costs and categories on which the money would be spent. 'It would be imprudent for us to release further information at this time,' Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson told reporters last week. Space Force General Guetlein 'just got in the building,' said Wilson, who pledged to be 'transparent where we can be' about a 'very expensive' but 'very critical' programme. Not all of the government speakers at the event avoided the forbidden words. A NASA representative — notably not bound by the Pentagon's strictures — spoke about the work his agency is doing that could support Golden Dome, including advanced propulsion technologies and materials science. Industry representatives say they hope to learn more soon. The restriction on what can be discussed 'seems to have been partially lifted and probably will be more lifted as we keep going through this,' said Milton Carroll of Peraton, which aims to help Golden Dome systems communicate seamlessly. MDA's Collins also sounded an optimistic note, telling the defense officials, contractors and academics at the event that the program's launch presented a unique opportunity. 'It's a fleeting moment,' he said. 'As history has shown, this doesn't last forever, and we need to make a monster change now.'
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Business Standard
13 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Secret Service races to secure lodging for Trump-Putin summit in Alaska
The call to Beau Disbrow was unlike any the Anchorage realtor had ever received. His short-term rentals typically house tourists bound for glaciers, or business travelers passing through. This time, the request came from the US Secret Service. 'Most of my short-term rentals were booked, but I did manage to put some of them into one home,' he said. It was not the last inquiry connected to the highly anticipated summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin set for Friday. Soon after the Secret Service call, the Russian consulate in New York phoned Disbrow with the same request. With no vacancies left, he referred the officials to a friend with furnished homes sitting empty. When Trump announced the Alaska meeting a week ago, the lone agent assigned to the Secret Service's post in the Last Frontier began preparing to host hundreds of reinforcements in the days ahead. The agency's mission was unusually complex: to protect both the American and Russian presidents at the same site, each surrounded by a heavily armed security detail. Four people familiar with the planning said the operation became an all-out sprint, compressed into a single week. Because the meeting is on American soil, the Secret Service can move weapons, communications equipment and medical gear without foreign restrictions. But the geography presents its own hurdles. Anchorage has limited hotel rooms and a small rental-car market, so vehicles and other assets are being flown in or driven from other parts of the state. Motorcade SUVs are arriving from the lower 48 on cargo planes. The summit will take place at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska's largest military installation. A Cold War listening post less than a thousand miles from Russia, the base offers controlled airspace, fortified gates and instant access to military units — and, as an active base, is closed to the public. 'We're in the height of tourist season, so hotels are tight, cars are tight,' Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said on Bloomberg Television on Thursday. 'Having this on the base alleviates a lot of issues.' While Anchorage has played host to the Pope and to former President Ronald Reagan in years past, the summit is 'one of the biggest things to happen' in the city, said Dunleavy, a Republican. State Department protocol is shaping much of the plan. In a bilateral meeting, officials said, reciprocity rules mean every courtesy extended to one leader must be matched for the other. Russian security will control Putin's immediate movements while the Secret Service maintains an outer ring. Neither side will open the other's doors or ride in the other's vehicles. If 10 US agents are posted outside a meeting room, 10 Russian agents will stand on the other side. Everything is matched body for body, gun for gun, one person said. That symmetry will extend from the arrival motorcade to the placement of translators in the room. Both sides will bring their own language teams. Even the number and size of hold rooms — secure waiting areas for each leader — are being negotiated. The Secret Service is still waiting for Russia to formally approve the full security plan, the people said. 'The safety of the President is our highest priority,' the Secret Service said in a statement. 'In order to maintain operational security, the Secret Service does not discuss the specific means and methods used to conduct our protective operations.' The Alaska deployment lands with the agency also protecting Vice President JD Vance in the United Kingdom, preparing for the United Nations General Assembly in New York next month and providing protection for former presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden and George W. Bush and for former Vice President Kamala Harris. Twenty agents and officers have also been assigned this week to support Trump's federal takeover of the DC police department. Now, hundreds of agents have descended on Anchorage. Downtown hotels are full. Rental car lots have been cleared for convoys. Agents in suits and earpieces are posted at intersections while others, in plain clothes, blend into coffee shops and parking garages. Alaska state troopers and local police are folded into motorcade routes that have been mapped down to the turn lane. Every movement of both leaders' vehicles is being choreographed to keep them apart while ensuring each is fully protected. Trump has described the 'feel-out' meeting as an effort toward ending Russia's war in Ukraine, suggesting a territorial swap could be part of a deal. Putin has sought to strengthen his rapport with Trump ahead of their summit, praising the US leader's efforts to broker an end to the war in Ukraine and dangling the promise of economic cooperation as well as a new arms control treaty.
Mint
13 minutes ago
- Mint
PM Modi's strong message to Trump amid US tariffs: ‘Modi standing like wall in front of any policy…'
Amid US tariffs, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence day speech, sent a strong message to US President Donald Trump that he is standing like a wall against any policy that hurts farmers, fisherman, cattle rearers who are the country's priority. PM Modi said, 'I say this with great experience. Kisi doosre ki lakeer chhoti karne ke liye, apni oorja hamein nahi khapani hai. Hamein poori oorja ke saath hamari lakeer ko lamba karna hai. If we do that, the world will admit our strength. Today, when economic selfishness is rising day by day in the global situation, it is the need of the hour that we don't sit crying over those crises. Himmat ke saath apni lakeer ko lambi we take that path, no selfishness will not able to entangle us.' "Hum bohot tezi se aage bandhna chahte hai. Main yeh desh ke liye kar raha hoon, mere liye nahi kar raha hoon. Kisi ka bura karne ke liye nahi kar raha hoon..." he added. (This is a developing story. More to come)
