President Donald Trump announced that Gen. Michael Guetlein, the second-highest-ranking Space Force officer, will lead the Pentagon’s development of his Golden Dome air defense system.
One of the president’s first acts in his second term was to sign an executive order calling for the construction of a multilayered aerial defense system, both ground and space-based, to defend the United States against a range of strategic weapons, including ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles fired from different platforms.
“Today is a great day for the nation as we double down on protection of the homeland,” Guetlein said. “As you’re aware, our adversaries have become very capable and very intent on holding the homeland at risk while we have been focused on keeping the peace overseas, our adversaries have been quickly modernizing their nuclear forces, building out ballistic missiles capable of hosting multiple warheads, building out hypersonic missiles capable of attacking the United States.”
Trump also told reporters that Canada expressed interest in being a part of the Golden Dome. The U.S. and Canada have jointly run the North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, since 1958.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the cost of the Golden Dome over the next 20 years could range from $161 billion to $542 billion. The White House is seeking a $25 billion boost in defense spending for the next fiscal year to fund the initial costs.
“We’re talking about $175 billion total cost of this when it’s completed,” Trump said, adding that it’s expected to take about three years before it’s completed.
Gen. Chance Saltzman, head of Space Force, described the Golden Dome as “a system of systems” during an event at the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday.
Saltzman then told lawmakers on Tuesday that space-based technology likely involved in the Golden Dome “will depend heavily on space force sensors, data fusion, and communication capabilities,” and that it represents “new and emerging requirements for missions that have never before been accomplished by military space organizations,” not simply the modernization of current technology and weapons systems.
Saltzman also warned that congressional funding for the Space Force in recent years has limited its ability to work on many systems that will now be involved in the Golden Dome.
“The last three years of funding have not allowed me to go as quickly as possible, putting counter-space capabilities together that address the targets that I’m being asked to address,” he said.
The Chinese military currently has about 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles, which can be armed with a nuclear warhead, and Russia has about 350, according to an assessment released last week from the Defense Intelligence Agency about the weapons U.S. adversaries possess.
Every part of the continental U.S. is within range of current ICBMs.
Russia and China are both pursuing offensive space-based capabilities that would also pose threats to the U.S..
Trump’s idea for the Golden Dome is based on Israel’s Iron Dome, though there are key differences between the air defense system employed by Israel and what the U.S. is trying to build. The Iron Dome, which the U.S. and Israel jointly designed, can intercept short-range fires such as mortar shells, smaller rockets, and artillery shells.
Israel is also the size of New Jersey. As Trump has laid out, the U.S.’s Golden Dome will cover the entire country.
