In one of his first executive orders upon returning to the White House, US President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to develop an advanced and modern missile defense system - the "Golden Dome" - inspired by Israel's Iron Dome system. He said it would include interceptors deployed in space - and its use would begin by the end of his term in the White House.
Overnight, Reuters revealed new details about the ambitious project, based on a slide presentation prepared by the U.S. government on the subject. According to the presentation revealed to Reuters, the "Golden Dome" defense system will include four layers - one that will be satellite-based and three ground-based - with 11 short-range missile batteries that will be deployed across the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii.
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US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, announcing the Gold Dome missile defense project
(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The slides, tagged “Go Fast, Think Big!” were presented to 3,000 defense contractors in Huntsville, Alabama, last week and reveal the unprecedented complexity of the system, which faces an ambitious 2028 deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The system is estimated to cost $175 billion, but the slides show uncertainties still loom over the basic architecture of the project because the number of launchers, interceptors, ground stations and missile sites needed for the system has yet to be determined.
"They have a lot of money, but they don't have a target of what it costs yet," said one U.S. official. So far Congress has appropriated $25 billion for Golden Dome in Trump’s tax-and-spend bill passed in July. Another $45.3 billion is earmarked for Golden Dome in his2026 presidential budget request, opens new tab.
Intended as a multi-layered missile defense shield for the United States, Golden Dome draws inspiration from Israel's Iron Dome, but is significantly bigger due to the geography it will need to protect and the complexity due to the varied threats it will face.
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Lockheed Martin's Golden Dome missile interception initiative
(Photo: Lockheed Martin)
According to the slides, the system architecture consists of four integrated layers: a space-based sensing and targeting layer for missile warning and tracking as well as "missile defense" and three land-based layers consisting of missile interceptors, radar arrays, and potentially lasers.
One surprise was a new large missile field - seemingly in the Midwest according to a map contained in the presentation - for Next Generation Interceptors (NGI) which are made by Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab and would be a part of the "upper layer" alongside Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Aegis systems which are also made by Lockheed.
NGI is the modernized missile for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) network of radars, interceptors and other equipment - currently the primary missile defense shield to protect the United States from intercontinental ballistic missiles from rogue states.
The U.S. operates GMD launch sites in southern California and Alaska. This plan would add a third site in the Midwest to counter additional threats.
Other technical hurdles the slides identified included communication latency across the "kill chain" of systems. Contractors such as Lockheed, Northrop Grumman (NOC.N), opens new tab, RTX, and Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab have a variety of missile defense systems.
Notably, the slides did not mention Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which was part of a bid for Golden Dome contracts alongside software maker Palantir (PLTR.O), opens new tab and defense systems manufacturer Anduril.
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The Pentagon said it is gathering information "from industry, academia, national labs, and other government agencies for support to Golden Dome" but it would be "imprudent" to release more information on a program in these early stages.
One key goal for Golden Dome is to shoot targets down during their “boost phase,” the slow and predictable climb through the Earth's atmosphere of a missile. Rather, it seeks to field space-based interceptors that can more quickly intercept incoming missiles.
The presentation highlighted that the United States "has built both interceptors and re-entry vehicles" but has never built a vehicle that can handle the heat of reentry while targeting an enemy missile.
The last lines of defense dubbed the "under layer" and "Limited Area Defense" will include new radars and current systems like the Patriot missile defense system and a new "common" launcher that will launch current and future interceptors against all threat types.
These modular and relocatable systems would be designed to minimize reliance on prepared sites, allowing for rapid deployment across multiple theaters.
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US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, announcing the Gold Dome missile defense project
(Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Space Force General Michael Guetlein, confirmed last month to lead the Golden Dome project, has 30 days from his July 17 confirmation to build a team, another 60 days to deliver an initial system design, and 120 days to present a full implementation plan, including satellite and ground station details, people briefed on a memo signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have told Reuters.
About three months ago, Trump spoke about the project, saying that "we helped Israel with its system (Iron Dome), which was very successful," and immediately emphasized: "Our technology is much more advanced." He also said that "Golden Dome will protect our homeland," adding that Canada wants to use the system and that the U.S. will help it.
The promise to develop a new defense system was one of Trump's campaign promises. He promised to "build an Iron Dome over our country, a dome like you've never seen before, a state-of-the-art missile defense system that will be built entirely in America. We're going to build the biggest dome of them all."
Trump's order called for the development of a system that would also include space-based interceptors to enable very rapid interception. According to the American Physical Society, which has been researching missile defense systems for years, such a system would require thousands of interceptors in low Earth orbit to provide full range at any given time. "We estimate that to intercept a barrage of 10 intercontinental ballistic missiles like the Hwasong-18 (a North Korean missile), a constellation of 16,000 interceptors would be needed," the society estimated in a recently published report.