US plans Golden Dome, but can it stop an Ukrainian style Spider's Web kind of attack on its airbases?
Ukraine launched a major offensive on Sunday, June 1, against Russia through AI powered drones to attack military aircraft across multiple airbases. Kyiv's latest escalation against Moscow amid the ongoing war came as a part of the operation codenamed 'Spider's Web'. Kyiv's offensive comes days after US President
Donald Trump
announced the 'Golden Dome' missile defense system for the America. The system includes both surveillance satellites and interceptor satellites to aim at enemy missiles.
Operation Spider's Web reportedly caused damage to over 40 Russian bomber aircraft, including strategic Tu-95 and Tu-22 M3 long-range bombers. The planned strikes targeted Russian airfields spreading across thousands of kilometers, from facilities near Moscow to bases in eastern Siberia and the Far East, over 4,300 kms from the battlefield.
Under the 18-month long operation, explosive drones were concealed inside wooden mobile cabins mounted on trucks, according to BBC sources. They were positioned near Russian airfields before being launched remotely.
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The AI-powered drones made use of advanced autonomous systems that function independently after being deployed. The technology included "mother ship" drones which have the ability to deliver smaller first-person view (FPV) strike drones up to 300 kilometers behind enemy lines.
These systems were able to identify and engage targets without actively relying upon GPS or any sort of human intervention as they employed visual-inertial navigation with cameras and LiDAR technology.
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The drones deployed by Kyiv to execute an offensive against Moscow were so powerful that they successfully managed to breach its defense system, which contains S-400 which was recently used by India against Pakistan during Operation Sindoor following the Pahalgam terror attack.
State of US anti-air defense system
With Ukraine managing to pull off a devastating attack against a superpower like Russia under Operation 'Spider's Web', a serious question that arises is how much is a military giant like the United States geared up to avert such an attack on its soil.
Trump's
Golden Dome
project seeks to develop a network of satellites to assess, detect, track and potentially intercept incoming missiles. The missile defense system, however, will be ready only for a demonstration by the end of Trump's second tenure, according to the implementation plan created by the Pentagon, The Guardian reported.
With Golden Dome still a far-fetched project for Washington, the current capacity of its defense systems becomes crucial to analyze and understand its potential to deal with 'Spider's Web' like attack.
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense: As a sea based component of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS),
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense
uses the SPY-1 radar and variants of Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) or Standard Missile-6 to intercept ballistic missiles during midcourse or terminal phases of flight.
Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) System: It is the United States' homeland missile defense system. The system was designed to shield all 50 states from a limited long-range ballistic missile attack.
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD): It is a transportable system that intercepts ballistic missiles during their final, or terminal, phase of flight. The system has an X-band radar, the AN/TPY-2, and a single-stage, hit-to-kill interceptor to shoot down ballistic missiles inside or outside of the atmosphere.
Patriot: Considered as the
US Army
's primary air and missile defense system, the MIM-104 Patriot was initially designed as an antiaircraft system. Its latest versions carry the potential to engage ballistic and cruise missiles, loitering munitions, and aircraft.
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