Americans may launch Canadian weapons under Golden Dome
Missiles on our new warships could be U.S. - or AI - controlled
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Steve
Prime Minister Mark Carney has removed any restrictions on Canada’s military to join President Trump’s Golden Dome, an unproven, half-trillion dollar program to try to shoot down nuclear-armed missiles launched against the United States by Russia or China.
According to Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese, Defence Minister David McGuinty visited the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) headquarters in Colorado on July 15. He told the commanding U.S. General that the Canadian government “removed all restrictions on air and missile defence of Canada.”
The key question is: how much control is the Carney government willing to give the Pentagon over Canadian weapons and other systems in order to integrate with Trump’s Golden Dome?
Canada’s Navy likely to play a key role in Golden Dome
Canada’s Navy likes to boast about the level of integration it has with its American counterpart.
Our frigates join U.S. aircraft carrier groups on patrol, a status granted to few other navies. This deep integration is enabled by our Navy’s “cooperative engagement capability” that connect its ships’ radars and weapons systems to the carrier group’s command ship.
The Navy is set to spend untold billions on new warships, and it plans to include advanced cooperative engagement capability using U.S.-built radars and missiles used for ballistic missile defence.
One estimate pegs the additional cost at least $2.3 billion for the first three warships (Canada plans to build 15), though the total cost for the warships has not been disclosed by the government.
Allies will help to defend America from missiles
American military industry officials speaking about Golden Dome outside an arms industry conference last week said that the U.S. may need to integrate allies’ sensors and weapons into Golden Dome.
One corporate VP speaking on a webinar hosted by Space News emphasized the potential for integrating allied (including Canada) missile defense capabilities, noting that harnessing the sensors and shooters [i.e. missiles] of allies is desirable for a comprehensive system, despite the program being named “Golden Dome for America.”
Another industry expert, however, cautioned that while the U.S. may utilize allies’ weapons systems, it may not extend protection to allies’ territory. “Maybe… but [Trump’s] Executive Order is called Golden Dome for America… so next question,” he said curtly.
Who’s finger is on the button? A Canadian, American, or an AI?
Our Navy officials have steadfastly insisted that their weapons always remain under the control of a Canadian commander, despite the fact that it’s cooperative engagement capability can hand control over to the U.S. commander of a carrier group.
But this will change if Canada integrates with Golden Dome.
The timespan between tracking and identifying missile threats (and distinguishing from friendly military or civilian aircraft) and making the decision to fire missiles to intercept them is very short.
There would be little time for a U.S. commander to instruct a Canadian commander to target and launch interceptors in a coordinated counterattack, making it highly likely that Canada will need to cede control of our weapons to the Americans.
Even more, as U.S. industry experts admit, American commanders may need to give their control over to an artificial intelligence (AI) system, given the speed of new hypersonic missiles that travel at many times the speed of sound.
“AI support will be very important.”
Golden Dome expert
“Drones are slow and intercontinental ballistic missiles are fast, but hypersonics and their trajectories are very difficult targets,” he said. “So AI support will be very important.”
The experts feel that AI will be essential to integrate and understand the vast amounts of data required for Golden Dome, but eventually handing over the ability to actually fire missiles without a human in-the-loop will be controversial.
“Five years ago, nobody was saying that at all,” he said. “Now ‘auto mode’ [is required] under certain circumstances because the human is the weak point in the loop, and data is King.”
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Steve
Mr. Carney has proven to be more aligned with the USA agenda rather than protecting the interests of Canadians from an unstable American Government. It was my hope that Mr. Carney would detach Canada from the fear based politics of the USA to one of wise strategic diplomacy backed by Canadian military involvement.
Carney's Canada is for sale- cheap.