During a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) spoke about the need for the ‘Golden Dome,’ an air defense system designed to protect against inbound missile attacks.
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00:00The chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Wilson.
00:06And thank you very much, Dr. Chairman Desjolies.
00:11And we appreciate all of your service, and what an important time in history,
00:15what a great opportunity, I believe, we have in history to protect the American people.
00:20And we thank you all for being here today.
00:23And sadly to me, we're in a conflict we didn't choose,
00:26and that is dictators with rule of gun invading democracies with rule of law.
00:31It began February 24, 2023, the invasion by war criminal Putin of Ukraine.
00:36October 7, the invasion I consider of Israel by Iran, its puppets.
00:44And so we've just got to be prepared.
00:46And we know that earlier this month that Russia launched over 70 missiles
00:52in the capital of Kyiv against civilian targets that had catastrophic effect
00:58on 35 people killed on a bus over and over again,
01:03just war crimes that should never occur.
01:06And then Tehran has directly fired missiles itself directly from Iran
01:13and with its puppets against civilian targets in Israel.
01:16And then we have the Chinese Communist Party continuing to expand their arsenal
01:21of median and intermediate-range ballistic missiles,
01:25posing a significant threat to the United States and our allies across the Pacific.
01:30And it's my view that we must be prepared to strengthen our capabilities
01:35to deter the adversaries so that we can establish peace through strength.
01:40And, General Ganey, as we modernize to deter and defend ourselves against the adversaries
01:47with increasingly deadly capabilities,
01:49we are moving towards setting up a revolutionary new missile defense system,
01:54the Golden Dome, which has been so advocated and appreciated by President Donald Trump.
02:00With that in mind, General Ganey, as the service representative on the panel
02:04with the, quote, organized, trained, and equipped responsibilities,
02:08are you providing input on the personnel and training requirements
02:13that would be associated with the options under the consideration for Golden Dome?
02:19Congressman, thank you for that question.
02:22I have not been part of the architecture work to date,
02:26so therefore I have not had any input on the organizational training aspect of it.
02:31but what I can say is I have significant input into the Army's organization,
02:37modernization, and way forward,
02:39and any elements of the Army that may be part of that architecture
02:43will have already have been vetted.
02:45And as the operational, potential operational component for NORTHCOM
02:49doing the ground-based mid-course defense system,
02:53as we ingest additional technology into the architecture,
02:59my team will be prepared to advise NORTHCOM and assist as necessary.
03:03Well, we certainly have faith in you and your colleagues.
03:06With that in mind, too, General Ganey,
03:07as war criminal Putin's unprovoked invasion,
03:11which is to actually reestablish the failed Soviet Union,
03:15we see the axis of evil of the Chinese Communist Party,
03:20war criminal Putin, DPRK, North Korea, and the regime in Tehran
03:25continue to build up their missile capabilities
03:28with a threat against the United States and our allies continuing to grow.
03:33And, General, what is the Army's position on foreign military sales
03:37for the lower-tier air and missile defense sensor?
03:41Does the Army support partner nations purchasing the system
03:45as a standalone item?
03:48Again, Congressman, thanks for your question.
03:51The LTAM's radar is an exportable system currently,
03:56and it's currently part of our foreign military sales system,
04:02and Poland has purchased the system already.
04:07And, yes, it is available as a standalone option.
04:10However, we continue to encourage it to be purchased
04:13as part of the integrated battle command system
04:15because that promotes the interoperability
04:18between our allies and the U.S. as we move forward.
04:21And that's exciting.
04:22It's so exciting to see Poland come to life and be free.
04:27And, Secretary Yaffe,
04:29I'm very concerned about the weaponization of space
04:32by war criminal Putin and the Chinese Communist Party.
04:36And with the potentiality of overriding or evading the ground
04:41and sea-based missile defense systems,
04:43how can this be addressed of the weaponization of space?
04:48Sir, thank you for the question.
04:53I think we're tracking China and Russia's developments in space very closely.
04:56They've both put up a number of capabilities of concern
04:59designed to hold our critical space-based assets at risk,
05:02and that's part of the discussion.
05:04At the same time, we hope to leverage space
05:05to enable our sensors to be most effective
05:07in the future Golden Dome system.
05:09Well, thank you again for your service.
05:11I yield back.