Does Earth's planetary defenses ever seem like a total joke to anyone else? I mean for the capital and one of the most important strategic locations with mass infrastructure stationed there, The federation doesn't seem to invest much resources in it's defence systems, likely due to growing complacent before the Borg and Dominion.
Sure we heard of "Earth Defense Network" during one of the Star Trek Movies in the 23rd century but we never see nor heard any details about it. Then we, for the first time, see the inner sol system being protected by a permanent force in the form of three mini spaceships that were terribly ineffective. I think this was during The Next generation (TNG) era.
Romulans and Klingons seemed to invest more resources into defending their planets compared to the Federation which I really did not like. I get the Federation is peaceful and basically a bunch of exploratory nerds (dont hate me for that u know its true - oh also besides a few like Sisko god i love sisko), but i mean seriously member worlds should have adequate defenses beside Starfleet cause starships are rarely in the sectors I mean how many times has Enterprise been "the only ship in the sector" near Earth.
During Deep Space Nine, I was more satisfied with the planetary defenses Earth was portrayed with as they had actually gone into elaborate detail. From memory they had defense installations on the surface which I imagine are basically giant phasers that go from land to orbit. From a quick skim of Memory Alpha, they had also mentioned sensors and transporters (not sure why transporters maybe as a last resort like for evacuation?).
Overall, it seemed as though Bajor had far superior built in defenses compared to Earth. I mean Deep Space Nine was armed to the teeth and carried a supply of armed runabouts that could be mobilised at any given moment. For reference, DS9 was said to be capable of facing off against a fleet of Klingon Warships.
By Star trek Picard, it seemed as though the Federation took a more active interest in protecting the Sol System as they had placed a defense Net consisting of a deflector shield satellite grid over Mars and equipped them with what seemed to be orbital weapon platforms capable of phaser fire. Given Mars is a secondary player, it is only logical (real Vulcan of me there) to assume that Earth would be allocated superior defenses.
The Romulan refugee planet (forgot the name but ik it starts with v) was equipped with a 'standard' romulan defense system that was like a green planetary shield and "orbital killer drones". Earth should be equipped with planetary defense shields as well I mean if the romulans have it and the one at that planet was described as "primitive" than it should be easy as pie for a empire like the Federation. Earth should also have like some kind of offensive cannon or something like maybe place another verteron array on Luna or equip satellites with phasers. The Verteron beam cannon effectively allowed the terrorists to take control of the entire system, now imagine that with 24th-25th century upgrades. I would also like a small flotilla of Starfleet vessels (the more combat able ones) to patrol the Sol system maybe with two or three permanently stationed in close proximity to Earth like Luna Orbit or Mars orbit or something and then objects entering Federation space to be detected by monitoring stations along the various borders of Sector 001. The approaching force is then cornered by Starfleet who hail them tell them to identify themselves blah blah and then if they hostile... introduce them to a photon (and if they borg... Transphasic).
Now forgive me for this, but I do like how they portrayed Earth's defenses In Star Trek Discovery Season 3-4. Earth was protected by a deflector shield grid and possessed a small fleet of like at least 5 or 6 mobile space stations i guess i'm not clear on what they are exactly but each of them are armed with quantum torpedoes amongst presumably other weaponry.
Your thoughts? Suggestions for Starfleet/Federation?