23-05-2025
What we know about Trump's plans for a 'Golden Dome' defence system
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump announced a plan for an American-made "Golden Dome" defense system that would protect the country from the threat of foreign missile attack.
Trump claims this will be the first project to put US weapons in space and would be operational by the end of his term in 2029.
Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defense, told journalists that the Golden Dome is a "generational investment into the security of America".
This is what we know so far about the Golden Dome project, including who is working on it and what weapons could be involved.
Once finished, Trump claims the Golden Dome will be able to shoot down hypersonic, ballistic, and advanced cruise missiles, and drones, even if they are launched from the other side of the world or from space.
The dome - described as the "best system in the world" by Trump - will have a success rate of "near 100 per cent," he claimed.
An anonymous source told the Associated Press that the Golden Dome would have ground and space-based capabilities that will be able to detect and stop missiles at all four major stages of a potential attack: detection, interception at the earliest stage of flight, stopping them midcourse, or halting them as they descend to a target.
The US government has also been developing three options, including space-based interceptors, the source said.
Some of the early systems are expected from existing production lines. Senators at the press conference earlier this week named L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin, and RTX (formerly Raytheon), as potential contractors.
L3Harris announced in April that it expanded a plant in the state of Indiana to work on "on-orbit technology" for the Golden Dome.
Lockheed Martin said on its website that their goal is to deliver the first Golden Dome defenses by the end of 2026.
It also lists some of the existing weapons that could be part of the project, like the Command Control Battle Management Communications system (C2BMC), which the company says lets commanders make synchronised decisions about missile attacks in any phase of flight.
Trump earmarked an initial $25 billion (€22.16 billion) for the Golden Dome project in his proposed tax break bill, which was approved by the US House of Representatives on Thursday, with the total cost of the project coming in at an estimated $175 billion over three years (€155 billion).
A report from the US Congressional Budget Office, on the other hand, put the cost of only the space-based interceptors that could be used for the system at either $161 billion (€142.7 billion) for the lowest cost alternative or $542 billion (€480.33 billion) for a high cost option.
Trump said that the Golden Dome would develop new technologies but would also integrate some that it already has, which could include joint weapons developed with the Israelis for their layered defense system.
Commonly known as the "Iron Dome," Israel's system is capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if the projectile is headed towards a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure.
Israel uses a combination of the Arrow, David's Sling, and the Iron Dome to protect itself from long, medium, and short-range missiles.
The Arrow weapons system is a family of interceptive missiles that "surveils, detects, tracks and kills" incoming attacks "far away from their target," with a fully automated control system, according to an Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI). It was developed by the IAI in cooperation with the US' Boeing.
David's Sling, the medium-range defense system developed by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the US' RTX, offers "hit-to-kill" defense against ballistic missiles, enemy planes, and drones. The Iron Dome then works exclusively to deter the short-range threats.
Israeli officials say the system isn't 100 per cent effective but still credit it as having played a critical role in the country's defense from various rocket and missile fire from Iran and militia group in the Israel-Hamas conflict launched on October 7, 2023.
Europe is also working on its own version. In 2022, 21 European countries launched the European "Sky Shield" Initiative, whereby they agreed to cooperate in how defence systems are procured, maintained, and how to support each other.
Any weapons procured for the Sky Shield will then be folded into an existing NATO mission that "protects Alliance territory… against any air or missile threat or attack," according to the organisation.
Some countries, like Germany, have signed contracts with the Israelis or the Americans for the Arrow rocket system as part of Sky Shield.
