cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/44616333
President Donald Trump left out a key detail this week when he outlined his plans for a massive missile and air defense shield over the continent: He can’t build it without Canada.
Ottawa has historically funded about 40 percent of NORAD investments, according to VanHerck, and is putting $38 billion into the command to add new radars in the north over the next two decades. Without those investments — and additional sensors that can peer over the North Pole — officials believe the U.S. will have trouble putting together a credible North American air defense.
That is WILDLY narrow-focused when considering what is actually required to get this to work as a system of systems. Yes, parts of the system already exist. Getting them all working together with all of the kill-chains closed in an automated “dome” system is a completely different story. And that is ignoring that new satellites and ground systems are needed, which will all need to be defined, acquired, designed, built, tested, and deployed. Building a single GPS III satellite from an already existing design that has already been acquired, built, and tested 10 times would take longer than 3 years. Hell, just the requirements definition and acquisition will take 3 years for a program this big in scope.