But the Golden Dome project will not come to fruition without novel technologies—for which development might not be easy.
The U.S. Space Force is undertaking a significant defense project, known as the “Golden Dome,” as part of a new initiative under the Trump administration. The initiative, which hopes to establish comprehensive air and missile defenses for the U.S. homeland, will require a sprawling effort, across multiple agencies, to implement.
What Is the “Golden Dome”?
Only a week after taking office in January, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretary of Defense to create a game plan for implementing the Golden Dome concept in just 60 days. Trump’s request is significant. To actually implement Golden Dome, “the Pentagon will have to clear numerous legal, technical, and cultural hurdles” in a “major concerted effort across the Pentagon and intelligence community,” Air & Space Forces Magazine reported.
According to Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations General Michael Guetlein, “Without a doubt, our biggest challenge is going to be organization, behavior, and culture.” The general added that implementing the Golden Dome would require a “heavy lift” with the “magnitude of the Manhattan Project.”
That’s probably a dash of hyperbole. The Manhattan Project required the development of technology so novel that its viability was questioned at the onset of the project—technology with the capability of unleashing God-like power—all developed in absolute secret. The Golden Dome will certainly be a heavy lift, but it has a smaller-scale precedent in Israel’s “Iron Dome.” In fact, the Golden Dome initiative was originally called the “Iron Dome for America.”
Granted, Israel is the size of New Jersey—one of just fifty U.S. states—which is to say that the Golden Dome would have a vastly larger scale and complexity relative to the Iron Dome.
The Golden Dome “is meant to incorporate satellite constellations for missile warning, space-based sensors, missile interceptors, and advanced communication systems,” Air & Space Force Magazine reported. “Organizations from across the Pentagon are likely to be involved, including the Missile Defense Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, U.S. Space Command, and services like the Army, Navy, and Air Force.”
The Technology Isn’t Ready Yet
Guetlein spoke to the legal and bureaucratic challenges of implementing a project so complex—specifically addressing the legal barriers inherent in Title 10 and Title 50, two laws that govern intelligence and military matters. Guetlein also noted that integrating data from various sources, in real time, and then sharing that integrated data to military units, would be another of the program’s biggest challenges.
And the Golden Dome project will not come to fruition without novel technologies—for which development might not be easy.
“The project will also have to rely heavily on advanced and new technologies,” Air & Space Forces Magazine reported, emphasizing the need for “kill chains,” that can track targets, process sensor data, and then pass that data to interceptors.
The work has already begun. Earlier in the year, contractors were tasked with proposing solutions to meet Golden Dome’s requirements, “including a hypersonic and ballistic tracking space sensor layer and proliferated space-based interceptors for boost-phase intercept.” One Space Force officer warned that the technologies involved were a “real challenge” and “no joke of a physics problem,” perhaps as a way of tempering expectations.
About the Author: Harrison Kass
Harrison Kass is a senior defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
Image: Shutterstock / Martin Florek.
