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Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pentagon keeps a lid on Golden Dome
A sprawling missile defense conference kicks off Tuesday in Alabama, but no one on stage can mention the Pentagon's most ambitious missile defense project. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's office, according to the event's organizers, has banned officials at the event from talking about President Donald Trump's favorite weapon system: the nascent multibillion-dollar Golden Dome missile shield. The clampdown follows new Pentagon rules that ban personnel from participating in think tank and research organization events — a major channel for communicating policy and gathering outside input. And it occurs alongside a broader tightening of the department's public engagement, including reducing press conferences and limiting media access in the building to prevent a stream of embarrassing leaks. The Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville this week typically showcases the Pentagon's missile defense priorities. Organizers expect it will draw 7,300 attendees and 300 exhibitors this year, with Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins among the headliners. But Hegseth's public affairs office told organizers to keep Golden Dome off the agenda and muzzled government speakers — at least until a separate event on Thursday, according to event spokesperson Bob English. 'A lot of [attendees] are coming this year because of Golden Dome,' English said. 'Unfortunately, last week, [the Defense secretary's office] came out and said they don't want us talking about Golden Dome during the symposium.' The Pentagon, when asked for comment, pointed to a July announcement about the creation of an office to oversee the missile shield's development. Officials provided no additional information. Organizers described frantic days assessing the new rules' implications. 'There was confusion for about 48 hours about exactly what the policy was or what they intended us to do or not to do,' English said. Officials will still have some conversations about Golden Dome, but in a more structured setting. The Missile Defense Agency posted a notice this week that it will brief industry in an unclassified session Thursday, laying out what threats the shield is meant to stop, what mix of defenses it may use and how the Pentagon wants to buy and build it. But experts contend the conversation belongs in public. 'When it comes to Golden Dome, start talking,' said Tom Karako, a missile defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'There are good answers to these questions because the threat is profound. But there needs to be a lot more communication and persuasion.' The fledgling initiative, launched by Trump soon after he returned to office, received $25 billion in the recently signed GOP megabill. Proponents envision a $175 billion program. The Senate confirmed Gen. Mike Guetlein in July to lead the new Golden Dome office, which aims to unveil the system's architecture by mid-September and conduct the first integrated flight test in late 2028. Solve the daily Crossword
Politico
05-08-2025
- Business
- Politico
Pentagon keeps a lid on Golden Dome
The Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville this week typically showcases the Pentagon's missile defense priorities. Organizers expect it will draw 7,300 attendees and 300 exhibitors this year, with Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins among the headliners. But Hegseth's public affairs office told organizers to keep Golden Dome off the agenda and muzzled government speakers — at least until a separate event on Thursday, according to event spokesperson Bob English. 'A lot of [attendees] are coming this year because of Golden Dome,' English said. 'Unfortunately, last week, [the Defense secretary's office] came out and said they don't want us talking about Golden Dome during the symposium.' The Pentagon, when asked for comment, pointed to a July announcement about the creation of an office to oversee the missile shield's development. Officials provided no additional information. Organizers described frantic days assessing the new rules' implications. 'There was confusion for about 48 hours about exactly what the policy was or what they intended us to do or not to do,' English said. Officials will still have some conversations about Golden Dome, but in a more structured setting. The Missile Defense Agency posted a notice this week that it will brief industry in an unclassified session Thursday, laying out what threats the shield is meant to stop, what mix of defenses it may use and how the Pentagon wants to buy and build it. But experts contend the conversation belongs in public. 'When it comes to Golden Dome, start talking,' said Tom Karako, a missile defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'There are good answers to these questions because the threat is profound. But there needs to be a lot more communication and persuasion.' The fledgling initiative, launched by Trump soon after he returned to office, received $25 billion in the recently signed GOP megabill. Proponents envision a $175 billion program. The Senate confirmed Gen. Mike Guetlein in July to lead the new Golden Dome office, which aims to unveil the system's architecture by mid-September and conduct the first integrated flight test in late 2028.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Reduced funding slows MDA's hypersonic interceptor development
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways The Missile Defense Agency is facing a roughly three-year delay in its plan to deliver an interceptor capable of defeating a hypersonic weapon in the glide phase of flight, according to its director. In an attempt to mitigate the delay, the agency truncated a competitive development effort years' early, choosing one team to go it alone to design and build the Glide Phase Interceptor. But the program's reduced funding levels have still slowed down the program, MDA confirmed in a May 6 statement to Defense News. 'The glide phase interceptor program (delay) was due to priorities and resourcing decisions,' Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, MDA director, said in testimony before the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee on April 30. 'Last year, we were driven to make an earlier selection and a down-select years earlier than planned,' he said. MDA chose Northrop Grumman to design the interceptor last fall, prior to even reaching a preliminary design review. Ideally, major programs remain competitive through critical design review in order to motivate competitors to deliver high levels of capability at appealing price points. Each design review phase can typically take between a year and a year and a half. In the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress mandated MDA move more quickly by requiring the agency to reach full operational capability by the end of 2032 and provide no fewer than 12 GPIs for tests by the end of 2029. The funding the agency has received for the program 'will actually push that delivery to 2035,' Collins said. 'It's primarily a resourcing at this point. There are some technology things that need to happen in the next three to five years, but then there is a resourcing alignment issues that could accelerate that,' he added. 'We believe we could recover to 2032 with no increased level of programmatic risk across the program, but that's about the fastest we could do today.' In the meantime, Collins said MDA is exploring other alternatives or options that could fill a partial or residual capability from other systems. 'But as it stands today, the only hypersonic maneuvering target defense capability we have is in the fleet with the SM-6 [missile] and the Sea-Based Terminal [radar] capability,' he said. MDA is also delayed by about 18 months in fielding its Next-Generation Interceptor that will replace the Ground-Based Interceptors making up the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system, designed to defend the continental U.S. from intercontinental ballistic missiles that could come from Iran and North Korea. Again, the service chose a winner over a year earlier than planned, selecting Lockheed Martin and its partner L3Harris' Aerojet Rocketdyne in April 2024 to continue the development of NGI. 'Due to a funding decision and priorities, we did downselect to a single contractor last year, a year and a half earlier than expected,' Collins said in testimony. The NGI will play a big role in the Trump administration's Golden Dome missile defense shield to protect the U.S. homeland from air and missile defense threats from a wide variety of adversaries. Golden Dome would likely call for an increase of NGIs well beyond the 44 GBIs already in place, although the official plans for the architecture have yet to be revealed. 'Our No. 1 risk issue and risk going forward with either the vendors at that time was the solid rocket motor effort and development,' Collins said. 'This is a new booster, a new development, and we have experienced delays and issues with that development and are expecting 18 month or more delay in the delivery of that initial capability.' The agency said the previous schedule supported an initial operational capability for NGI no later than the fourth quarter of fiscal 2028. MDA has 'taken actions to shore up that development as well as bring in an additional source to help buy down the schedule risk of the development as we move forward,' Collins added. The Army operates the GMD system, and the service's Space and Missile Defense Command commander, Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey, told reporters in a May 2 briefing that any delay to capability that would address advanced threats 'is obviously concerning.' But, he added, 'we'll continue to work with Missile Defense Agency to mitigate from an upgrade of the current GBIs, an upgrade of the software as necessary to be able to fight the fight with the capability that we have right now.' 'It is still the foundation for the future of ballistic ICBM protection of the homeland and we are 100% committed and focused on that program,' Collins said.
