President Donald Trump has proposed a $1.5 trillion defense budget, $500 billion above current funding for the Pentagon. Such an increase would be necessary to usher in the proposed “golden age” for the United States military and support two of the president’s golden programs.
However, critics have warned that each would be far too expensive to meet the proposed goals, and worse, neither is likely to deliver.
Instead, the military could be headed to a “Gilded Age,” where, in this case, the weapons and platforms may be far less capable than needed to accomplish the mission.
The Golden Fleet and a New Class of Battleships
There is no denying that the United States Navy needs a severe course correction. It is the smallest it has been since before the First World War, and nearly every major program is now running behind schedule. The next Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear-powered supercarrier, the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), was supposed to be delivered to the U.S. Navy last year, already years late, but the ship won’t be handed over to the sea service until March 2027.
The proposed Golden Fleet initiative aims to deliver a powerful, technologically advanced fleet. The centerpiece of this modernization is to be the new Trump-class battleships, the first such capital ships built since the Second World War.
It would be part of a “barbell” strategy, with warships paired with smaller, less expensive, unmanned vessels. Critics have questioned whether the fleet even needs the battleships, and what role they could fill.
Although smaller than the past Iowa-class fast battleships, the vessels could be armed with hypersonic weapons, lasers, and other armament still under development. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warned this month that each could cost more than $20 billion, limiting resources to develop the support fleet.
This month, Chinese officials even called the proposed warships “easier targets,” an ominous warning given that Beijing has invested considerable resources developing its so-called “carrier-killer” intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
Some naval analysts and numerous think tanks have suggested that, given the costs and the lack of a clear role for such a warship, a future administration would likely cancel the program. Yet, the warnings remain that the U.S. Navy doesn’t have money to waste on such concepts.
The U.S. Navy has already made costly missteps with its Zumwalt-class destroyers, a program scaled back from a planned 32 to just three, the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), with the oldest vessels retired years ahead of schedule. Both programs resulted in combat platforms seeking a mission.
Instead of filling a battleship-like role in amphibious assaults, the Zumwalt-class destroyers are now being armed with a limited number of costly hypersonic weapons. At best, these are floating carrier killers that could serve as a deterrent, rather than warships employed in sustained combat operations.
The LCS program has also struggled to find a purpose, with the vessels facing numerous reliability issues that have led sailors to suggest the initials could stand for “Crappy Little Ships.” The U.S. Navy is repurposing the Independence-class variants for mine-hunting, replacing the aging Avenger-class minesweepers. It may have found a mission for the LCS, but critics have argued that the money would have been better spent developing a new class of minesweepers.
The goal of the Golden Fleet is to be a modern version of the Great White Fleet, built by President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 20th century, to highlight the new American steel navy signal that the U.S. had become a significant power. However, the U.S. Navy’s resurgence didn’t begin with the Great White Fleet; instead, the Battleship Act of 1890 transformed the decayed post-Civil War fleet into a modern steel-hulled global force that ranked among the top five worldwide.
The United States is dealing with even more radical changes in the 21st century, changes that should put greater focus on automation, artificial intelligence, and smaller warships. The Battleship Act came at the dawn of the massive warships, but the battleship era is long over.
The Golden Dome for America
In May, the White House unveiled the $175 billion “Golden Dome for America” air defense system, promising it could be built within three years.
It was first touted as an “Iron Dome for America,” modeled after the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system. It was rebranded to “Golden,” a point that could be fitting given that it will cost more than its weight in gold.
It is unlikely it can effectively stop ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic weapons, as well as drones and other aerial threats, over the entirety of the United States. Even covering a portion of the country could cost $3.6 trillion and might not address emerging threats.
Industry showed “considerable interest” in the indefinite-delivery contract proposals introduced last October, prompting the deadline to be pushed.
The Golden Dome for America has evoked memories of the planned missile defense system, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), conceived by President Ronald Reagan. This initiative called for space-based missile interceptors to counter missiles and other airborne threats from America’s adversaries, which at the time were mainly the Soviet Union. That program, which earned the nickname “Star Wars” in honor of the popular science fiction franchise, never got off the drawing board due to costs and even physical limitations.
