$175 Billion Golden Dome Architecture Officially Selected
A press conference was held by President Trump on May 20 announcing that an architecture for the Golden Dome missile defense system had been selected. Perhaps most importantly the overall program budget was announced to be $175 billion with $25 billion being allocated in the FY26 budget. Trump had first announced his plans to develop the Golden Dome to Congress on March 4 but avoided discussing the expected cost of the project which the National Research Council estimated could range up to $542 billion.
Golden Dome is intended to defend the US homeland from hypersonic, ballistic, and advanced cruise missile threats. Notably this includes Hawaii and Alaska which are expected to be at risk from a conventional strike in the event of a war in the Pacific. More interestingly the President mentioned the system is also intended to defend against attacks from space, alluding to Fractional Orbital Bombardment Systems which were tested by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) back in 2021.
Additionally at a Council on Foreign Relations Conference on May 19, General Saltzman, who leads the Space Force, explained that his two greatest concerns are attacks against American space infrastructure that would form part of Golden Dome and secondly, the Chinese “space-enabled targetting systems” that would act as sensors for the long-range strikes that Golden Dome would be defending against. Thus the Golden Dome won’t strictly be about intercepting incoming missiles but disrupting or “degrading” the space-based systems that would enable such an attack. In other words attacking and defending space assets will be a core function of the Golden Dome.
The other major announcement was that General Guetlein, currently the Vice Chief of Space Operations, had been selected as program manager for the Golden Dome. Previously Gen. Guetlein was head of Space Systems Command which leads the development and procurement of the advanced spacecraft that would make up the Golden Dome. This experience will greatly aid the General in integrating disparate elements that will make up the ‘system of systems’ architecture and in particular he has a lot of experience working with infrared missile warning systems that will form the sensor element of the Shield.