The spaceborne missile defense platforms can be a reality sooner than we thought.

The golden dome chief said that spaceborne anti-missile systems are possible today. The Reagan era’s strategic defense initiative,(SDI), was too futuristic. The reason for that was the primitive laser and data processing technology. But today, systems like laser weapons and independently operating space missile platforms are possible. The image-recognition systems make it possible to select the right targets from the suspected incoming missiles, and those systems can also destroy enemy satellites. The idea of those systems is that high-orbiting satellites see missile launches. 

And then they can try to destroy those missiles using rockets or some directed energy weapons like railguns, lasers, plasma, or microwaves. The reason why those platforms are in high orbit is that they should have the ability to avoid ground- or atmospheric-based anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons. The problem with those anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems is that. If the enemy knows their trajectories, it can send things like a metal ball-swarm to orbit in the opposite way to those weapons. The missile can be shot from the other side of Earth, and it must raise those metal profiles to the same trajectory as the ABM weapon. 

The idea of the ABM systems is not new. The Patriot and other kinds of anti-aircraft missiles can shoot enemy ballistic missiles down. But the problem with those kinds of systems is that they are created to shoot down tactical, conventional missiles. The problem with strategic missiles is that if nuclear missiles are destroyed over some territory, that spreads plutonium all around the area. A counter system like Soviet/Russian ABM-1 “Galosh” and the U.S. Nike Zeus that shoots enemy missiles down by using thermonuclear warheads. The radioactive debris and high-energy ions will make that trajectory useless. 

Soviet Energia rocket with Polyus spacecraft. 

"A notional rendering of China's reusable Shenlong space plane. (Image credit: Erik Simonsen/Getty Images),  (Space.com, China's space plane apparently deployed 6 'mysterious wingmen' in orbit)

The nuclear warhead can send high-energy radiation across the Earth, destroying lots of its own and enemy satellites. If that detonation happens over its own territory, the EMP pulse destroys electronics below it. In the 1960s, the U.S. and the Soviets tested or researched systems that were modified fractional orbital bombardment systems. One of those systems was the Soviet "Polyus". Spacecraft that could carry a laser weapon and space mines. That system flew once in 1984, and the rocket's failure caused the Soviets to stop that program. 

Those systems were nuclear bombs that were positioned in an orbital trajectory. Those nuclear weapons could attack cities. Or they can detonate at an orbiter. That makes them space mines that can have ABM and ASAT roles. There is a possibility that in 2023, the Chinese shuttle that deployed six mysterious “wingmen” tested the ability to release and collect space mines from the orbiter. 

The other problem is the changed missile tactics. When those counter ballistic missiles were created, they developed against the missile mass-raid. The fireball of the warhead that detonated in the middle or a little forward of the incoming missiles will destroy those warheads with radiation and an EMP pulse. But the problem is that the missile tactics have changed. The nuclear strike can be made using multiple waves. That can cause a situation where the defender must shoot more than enough nuclear warheads into space. And that destroys lots of satellites. 

This is the reason why the small-sized shuttles that can use stealth technology are suitable for ASAT and ABM operations. Those systems can check the orbital defense platforms' conditions. And they can deliver and collect sub weapons. 

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/guetlein-first-priority-golden-dome-c2/

https://www.space.com/china-space-plane-depoyed-mystery-objects

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Chinese_spacecraft_launched_mystery_object_into_space_before_returning_to_Earth_999.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABM-1_Galosh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_Zeus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyus_(spacecraft)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative