The Trump administration is seeking to expand the scope and sophistication of American missile defences on a scale not seen since President Ronald Reagan's “Star Wars” initiative in a new strategy that President Donald Trump plans to roll out personally on alongside military leaders at the Pentagon.
Known as the missile defence review, the document that Trump will unveil marks the first official update to American missile defence doctrine in nine years.
The Washington Post says that it comes as North Korea and Iran make advances in ballistic missile production, and as Russia and China press forward with sophisticated cruise missiles, short‑range ballistic missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles that potentially threaten the security of US forces and allies in Europe and Asia.
The Trump administration's response is to call for urgent new investments in missile defence technologies across the board, many of which the Pentagon pursued during the Cold War but abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Pentagon wants to put a constellation of sensors above the Earth that can track missiles as they launch, and is recommending a study of weapons that can shoot down missiles from space.
