Canada discusses joining the American Missile Defense Program of the Golden Dome

The Canadian government has said it is in talks with the United States about joining its proposed rocket defense system “Golden Dome” aimed at countering “the next generation of air threats.”

The Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Office said there were “active discussions” between Canada and the US on security, including existing and new programs such as Golden Dome.

US President Donald Trump presented the plan for the new missile defense system earlier on Tuesday, announcing an initial sum of $ 25 billion ($ 18.7 billion) for its construction. He added that Canada was interested in joining.

There are doubts from experts on how the US would provide a complete system and it is unclear how Canada will participate or how much it will pay.

Canada’s openness to joining the proposed Golden Dome system comes against the background of current trade and security negotiations between the two countries after Trump threatened steep tariffs for Canada and said he would be better as a state in the United States.

This galvanizes a wave of national patriotism in Canada, which has introduced into a historic victory for the election for the liberal government of Carney.

“The Canadians have given the Prime Minister a strong term to negotiate complete new security and economic relations with the United States,” said Audrey Shamp, a spokesman for Carney.

“For this purpose, the Prime Minister and his ministers are conducting broad and constructive discussions with their American counterparts,” she said.

“These discussions naturally involve NORAD strengthening and related initiatives such as the Golden Dome.

But the champoux added that it is too early to say what can Canada pay in the program or how it will work for the country.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump stated that Canada had expressed interest in being part of the gold dome.

“We’ll talk to them,” the US president said. “They also want to have protection, so as usual, we help Canada.”

Trump said the new Golden Dome missile program will work by the end of his time in service and that it will come at a price of $ 175 billion. He added that his administration is looking for Canada to “pay its fair share.”

Canada and the United States already a partner of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD, a system responsible for aerospace and maritime observations, the warning and protection of the region and which can detect and download cruise missiles.

Noard has existed since 1958, both countries in recent years have been involved in discussions about its modernization.

Trump said the proposed gold dome aims to focus on increasingly complex air weapons and will include space sensors and interceptors.

He said the system would be “even capable of crossing rockets fired from the other side of the world, or fired from space.”

It is partly inspired by Israel’s iron dome that the country has used to capture rockets and missiles since 2011.

Experts have expressed doubts about whether the US would be able to build such a comprehensive defense system, given its larger land mass.

Shashank Joshi, the editor of the Defense at The Economist, told the BBC that one of the ways the gold dome could work is by using thousands of companions to notice and track rockets and then uses interceptors in orbit to shoot the missiles while they fly and remove them.

He said the US military would take the plan seriously, but it was unrealistic to think that it would be completed during Trump’s term and a huge price would suck much of the US defense budget.

The Congress Budget Office has estimated that a possible price label can be $ 542 billion in 20 years, only in space parts of the system.