U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, right, discusses the Golden Dome for America missile defense system with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on May 20, 2025. AFP/GETTY IMAGES
THE WATCH STAFF
The United States government in May 2025 announced details, including some contractors and estimated costs, for the Golden Dome for America missile defense project. The Department of Defense has requested $25 billion for the project in the upcoming fiscal year and named Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force, to oversee the massive undertaking of developing a space-based warning and intercept system that would offer a multilayered defense of the U.S.
President Donald Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office on May 20 that Canadian officials had expressed interest in being protected by the missile shield and that the countries were discussing details on the cost of Canada’s participation. Trump said the system should be ready by the end of his term in 2028. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who joined President Trump in the Oval Office, called the project a “game changer” and “a generational investment in the security of America,” according to The New York Times.
Guetlein said that adversaries have been modernizing their nuclear forces and building their ballistic capabilities — including hypersonic missiles capable of attacking the U.S. within an hour and traveling at 9,660 kilometers per hour. Russia has used such missiles in the Ukraine war and the Chinese Communist Party has tested its own version. U.S. missile defense experts have said that current missile defenses would struggle to shoot down a hypersonic missile. By investing in the Golden Dome, Guetlein said, the U.S. will eliminate that risk. “It is time that we change that equation and start doubling down on the protection of the homeland,” Guetlein said, according to the Times.
In an April 2025 appearance before Congress, U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Commander Gen. Gregory M. Guillot said the increasingly sophisticated challenges will be met. “NORAD will optimize protection of prioritized Defense Critical Infrastructure while maintaining adequate national response capability in support of civilian air traffic and cooperate with the Air Force and the Air National Guard to generate greater readiness against high-end threats though enhanced campaigning and training while remaining available to NORAD when indications and warning triggers are met,” Guillot said in prepared testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.
The Golden Dome would be an integrated command and control system that brings together space-based sensors and interceptors, including technology with the ability to destroy missiles from space, and land and sea-based missile defense assets. The system would protect nearly all of the U.S. from missile attacks, Trump said at the news conference. All components will be built in the U.S., Trump said, echoing an executive order he issued in January 2025 to begin designing the system.
“The Golden Dome builds on what have always been strengths of the United States: bold vision, innovation, and cutting-edge technology. As the President stated in the EO, the Golden Dome will include space-based interceptors and sensors. Some U.S. technology in space such as space-based sensors and air and missile defense exist today, but all of the systems comprising the Golden Dome architecture will need to be seamlessly integrated. Golden Dome will be fielded in phases, prioritizing defense where the threat is greatest,” Hegseth said in a Defense Department news release.