# Feasibility and practical consequences of the 2025 "golden dome" missile interception project **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2025, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feasibility-and-practical-consequences-of-the-2025-golden-dome-missile-interception-project/1018996 "2025-05-30T09:37:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feasibility-and-practical-consequences-of-the-2025-golden-dome-missile-interception-project/1018996/21 "2025-05-31T17:21:24Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > …would be real peace talks and efforts, which we could promise to name after Trump’s head if he was successful “The Rotten Brain Peace Conference” doesn’t really have much of a ring to it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feasibility-and-practical-consequences-of-the-2025-golden-dome-missile-interception-project/1018996/22 "2025-05-31T17:50:43Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > …which we could promise to name after Trump’s head if he was successful That is would be more “Unidentified Mangy Rodent”. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feasibility-and-practical-consequences-of-the-2025-golden-dome-missile-interception-project/1018996/23 "2025-05-31T17:55:06Z")
[Moderating] This is still FQ. The next political potshot gets a Warning. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feasibility-and-practical-consequences-of-the-2025-golden-dome-missile-interception-project/1018996/24 "2025-06-01T15:17:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Not really. Processors, for instance, are mostly made in Taiwan. Fabs are dominated by TMSC. Taiwan is where the majority of their fabs are located. TMSC don’t design anything. That is a key part of the business - they don’t compete with their customers. Intel don’t fab in Taiwan at all. Of course companies like Nvidia, Apple, and AMD do have TMSC fab their stuff. TMSC have one fab running in Arizona with two more on the way. For high end military, things like FPGAs are a major component. Processors are not where the meat is. Xilinx (now AMD) FPGAs are also fabed by TMSC. Quite what is going to happen with Altera now Intel has spun it out again will be interesting to see. But everything is designed in the US. TSMC provide the ability to put transistors on chips. The technology used is basically science fiction. But they don’t have a monopoly on it. Any retreaded version of Star Wars missile defence always reminds me of David Parnas. Already a respected name in computer science, after Reagan announced SDI, he toured the world giving a very well reasoned argument about why there was no reasonable expectation of it working. In truth, I think most of his arguments retain their validity. He even came to my tiny little corner of the world, which was about as far from home as he might have ever ventured. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feasibility-and-practical-consequences-of-the-2025-golden-dome-missile-interception-project/1018996/25 "2025-06-02T12:29:43Z")
Key among the problems with SDI and possibly with Golden Doh! is whether the actual weapons capable of attack will sit in space. There’s been a general understanding (treaty? What any treaty worth? Ask the NAFTA/UMCA signers; as the WTO members) that active weapons don’t sit in space. That would be a step too far, particularly anything that could also attack other targets. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feasibility-and-practical-consequences-of-the-2025-golden-dome-missile-interception-project/1018996/26 "2025-06-02T13:05:24Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > There’s been a general understanding (treaty? What any treaty worth? Ask the NAFTA/UMCA signers; as the WTO members) that active weapons don’t sit in space. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 prohibits placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit and any type of weapon on other celestial bodies. It does not prohibit weapons other than WMD in orbit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/feasibility-and-practical-consequences-of-the-2025-golden-dome-missile-interception-project/1018996.md?page=1)