Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: China emerged as the central strategic focus of a high-stakes US congressional hearing on missile defence recently, with defence officials warning that Beijing’s expanding capabilities are driving a major overhaul of America’s homeland security architecture.
Senior Pentagon officials repeatedly identified China as the primary long-term challenge shaping the proposed “Golden Dome” missile shield, even as lawmakers clashed over its cost, feasibility and strategic logic.
“China is our pacing competitor,” Marc Berkowitz, assistant secretary of defence for space policy, told the House Armed Services subcommittee, outlining the rationale behind the new system.
The proposed Golden Dome system is envisioned as a layered, multi-domain defence architecture capable of countering ballistic, hypersonic and advanced cruise missile threats — areas where US officials say China has made rapid advances.
