Pentagon Golden Dome to have 4-layer defence system, slides show
The slides, tagged 'Go Fast, Think Big!', were presented to 3,000 defence contractors in Huntsville, Alabama, last week and reveal the unprecedented complexity of the system, which faces an ambitious 2028 deadline set by US President Donald Trump.
The system is estimated to cost $175bn (R3.06-trillion), but the slides show uncertainties loom over the basic architecture of the project because the number of launchers, interceptors, ground stations and missile sites needed for the system has yet to be determined.
'They have a lot of money, but they don't have a target of what it costs yet,' said one US official. So far Congress has appropriated $25bn (R437.69bn) for Golden Dome in Trump's tax-and-spend bill passed in July. Another $45.3bn (R793.09bn) is earmarked for Golden Dome in his 2026 presidential budget request.
Intended as a multilayered missile defence shield for the US, Golden Dome draws inspiration from Israel's Iron Dome, but is significantly bigger due to the geography it will need to protect and the complexity due to the varied threats it will face.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
an hour ago
- TimesLIVE
Trump orders easing of commercial space flight rules, in boon to Musk's SpaceX
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to streamline federal regulation governing commercial rocket launches, a move that could benefit Elon Musk's SpaceX and other private space ventures. Trump's order, among other things, directs the US transportation secretary to eliminate or expedite environmental reviews for launch licences administered by the Federal Aviation Administration, the White House said. The declaration also calls on the secretary to do away with 'outdated, redundant or overly restrictive rules for launch and re-entry vehicles'. 'Inefficient permitting processes discourage investment and innovation, limiting the ability of US companies to lead in global space markets,' the executive order states. While Musk and Trump had a high-profile falling out months ago, the billionaire entrepreneur's SpaceX rocket and satellite venture potentially stands to be the single biggest immediate beneficiary of Trump's order on Wednesday. SpaceX, though not mentioned by name in Trump's order, easily leads all US space industry entities, including NASA, in the sheer number of launches it routinely conducts for its own satellite network, the US space agency, the Pentagon and other enterprises. Jeff Bezos' private rocket company Blue Origin and its space tourism business could also gain from a more relaxed regulatory regime. Musk has repeatedly complained that environmental impact studies, post-flight mishap investigations and licensing reviews required by the FAA have needlessly slowed testing of SpaceX's Starship rocket, under development at the company's South Texas launch facility. Starship is the centrepiece of Musk's long-term SpaceX business model, as well as a core component of NASA's ambitions for returning astronauts to the moon's surface, establishing a permanent human lunar presence and ultimately sending crewed missions to Mars. Musk has viewed FAA oversight as a hindrance to his company's engineering culture, considered more risk-tolerant than many of the aerospace industry's more established players. SpaceX's flight-test strategy is known for pushing spacecraft prototypes to the point of failure, then fine-tuning improvements through frequent repetition. This has appeared to run afoul at times with the FAA's mission of safeguarding the public and the environment as it exercises its regulatory jurisdiction over commercial space flight. Earlier this year, the FAA grounded Starship test flights for nearly two months after back-to-back post-launch explosions rained debris over Caribbean islands and forced dozens of airliners to change course. The FAA ended up expanding the aircraft hazard zone along Starship's launch trajectories before licensing future flights.
The Citizen
an hour ago
- The Citizen
Responses to US tariff increases may trigger closer tax scrutiny
Graphene Economics says even Mauritius is looking into intra-group transactions more closely. Global crises – such as the 2008 financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the recent international trade tensions created by US President Donald Trump – generally result in renewed focus on tax collection, particularly from multinational companies. Tax authorities will take a closer look at companies' transfer pricing policies and whether prices are being adjusted because of outside shocks, or whether the tariff increases are a convenient opportunity to shift profits to head office countries, warns Michael Hewson, director at Graphene Economics. Transfer pricing is the price set when different parts of the same company, like its branches or subsidiaries, buy and sell things from each other – whether it is products, services, or ideas. Transfer pricing policies influence how much tax a company pays in the countries where it operate. ALSO READ: US tariffs: SA sends new proposal but no changes to laws Reduced prices Hewson says companies may react to the punitive tariffs introduced by the US by reducing the price of goods they export to the US in order to remain competitive. The risk is that they will lose market share if they do not make price adjustments to respond to the increased tariffs. This, says Hewson, may attract the attention of revenue authorities. 'The South African Revenue Service [Sars] may challenge why prices to a related party in the US are now lower than prices to third parties in other countries,' he explains. Hewson gives the example of a local manufacturer. If a global retailer, which manufacturers in China and other markets affected by high tariffs, sells more into SA, the demand for the local manufacturer's products may reduce. Especially if the prices charged by the global retailer reduce. This would impact the profitability of the local manufacturer. 'These reduced profits may cause Sars to ask whether the lower profits are due to its transfer pricing policy, even though it's actually impacted by external commercial factors.' ALSO READ: US tariff an existential threat for a third of metals and engineering sector Commercial rational Companies need to carefully record their decisions for making pricing adjustments, along with the commercial rationale behind them. When a dispute arises, it may be years after the actual event, and it can be quite a challenge to find the right documentation – or even people who were involved in the decision-making at the time. Hewson says Graphene Economics is increasingly receiving transfer pricing queries from countries it had not previously heard from. It has seen a notable increased focus on transfer pricing policies from East and West Africa. 'Governments are seeing transfer pricing as a big opportunity for revenue collections and the global shocks are proliferating the attention.' The work done by institutions such as the African Tax Administration Forum (Ataf), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations, and the World Bank have assisted with capacity building, training, and the introduction of transfer pricing legislation into Africa. There has also been increased information sharing between Sars and revenue authorities in East Africa and West Africa. Mauritius, too, has recently been scrutinising intra-group transactions more closely and the number of audits has increased – something that has been unheard of in the recent past, notes Hewson. ALSO READ: Transfer pricing: 'Days of pleading ignorance are over' Reducing risk and costs Important tools to mitigate disputes with tax authorities include advanced pricing agreements (APAs) and mutual agreement procedures (MAPs). Hewson says there are several companies in SA that are keen to enter into APAs with the tax authorities. The main aim of an APA is to establish how prices will be set for future transactions, thereby reducing the risk of disputes following an audit, and the possibility of double taxation. Draft legislation for a proposed APA Programme was introduced in 2023 and according to ENSafrica, the draft bill included a clause indicating that a chapter on the APA programme will be inserted into the Income Tax Act. 'The introduction of the APA programme is a positive and significant development in South Africa's efforts to enhance its tax administration system. It provides taxpayers with an alternative, binding arrangement with Sars, and it will also offer upfront certainty on transfer pricing positions for a defined period,' the firm said at the time. Hewson notes that companies generally do not care where their profits are taxed, but they want to avoid double taxation. Several countries in Africa are using APAs. MAPs, on the other hand, offer a safety net when double taxation has already occurred due to tax authorities taking different positions. The key differences between APAs and MAPs Source: Microsoft Co-Pilot This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
IOL News
3 hours ago
- IOL News
Bitcoin hits record high
Bitcoin has surged to an all-time high. Bitcoin hit a record high on Thursday during early Asian trading, surpassing $124,000, driven by favourable US legislation and a rise in US equities. The cryptocurrency rose above its previous July record, briefly exceeding $124,500 before retreating. US stocks ended higher Wednesday, with the S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq reaching new heights this week, contributing to the cryptocurrency's rise. Bitcoin's value has recently soared, fuelled by US regulatory changes under US President Donald Trump, a strong backer of the crypto sector. Its price has also been boosted by large holders of cryptocurrency, referred to as "whales". "The crypto market is enjoying a period of highly favorable fundamentals," said Samer Hasn, senior market analyst at "President Donald Trump has moved to end restrictions that previously prevented banks from doing business with companies flagged for reputational risk concerns, a category in which crypto firms were often unfairly placed," he added. Trump may also be inclined to "accelerate the integration of cryptocurrencies into the national financial system and lift additional restrictions, given his and his family's growing involvement in the sector", Hasn said. Trump's media group and Tesla, the electric carmaker owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, are among an increasing number of companies buying huge amounts of bitcoin.
