How the ‘Golden Dome’ will be a game-changer in missile defense

(NewsNation) — The $175 billion “Golden Dome for America” missile defense system will be completely American-made and will utilize what President Donald Trump characterized as unrivaled next-generation “super technology” to provide nearly 100% protection against missile attacks from foreign adversaries.

Trump and other officials announced the plan on Tuesday and predicted that the defense system could be fully operational within the next three years. A $25 billion initial investment in the project is part of Trump’s proposed “one big, beautiful bill”.

Officials announced that several U.S. states, including Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Indiana and North Dakota, would have a hand in constructing the “Golden Dome,” which is similar to the missile defense system that is used in Israel, but involves the use of much more advanced technology, Trump said.

The plan comes months after Trump signed an executive order that proposed a cutting-edge missile defense shield that at the time was called “The Ironi Dome for America” that would be designed to protect the United States from the threat of foreign missile attacks.

What types of missile defense will the Golden Dome include?

Trump said Tuesday the “state-of-the-art system” includes land, sea and space sensors and interceptors. Officials described the dome as a layered defense system that will begin with ground-based interceptors that will include technology from military defense companies such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.

The “Golden Dome” will be integrated with the country’s existing defense capabilities and, by its completion, will “be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world – even if they are launched from space,” Trump said.

“This is very important to the success and even survival of the country,” he added.

Trump said that the defense system would include protection against hypersonic missiles, ballistic missiles and advanced cruise missiles.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth characterized the defense system as a game-changer and one that represents a generational investment in securing the country and America.

“It’s a layered defense and so if you miss at one (level), you catch at the next,” Hegseth said, adding the system will rely on integrated technology capable of speaking to each other.

“Our enemies, our adversaries, are going to pay attention to this.”

What states and companies will be involved in the Golden Dome project?

U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said that L3Harris, based in Fort Wayne, will be involved in the building of space satellites and that work would also be completed at Crane Air Force Base in the southern part of the state.

Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan referred to his state as the “cornerstone of missile defense” when it comes to ground-based missile interceptors, radar systems that track incoming systems. Fellow Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota announced that he, along with Sullivan and Banks, had recently met with officials from U.S. companies that have a hand in building the missile defense system.

Trump did not specify what companies could be involved in the building of the defense system, but Banks, the Indiana senator, said that “a lot” of American companies will be involved in the building of the “Golden Dome.”

Sullivan described the design as being “open architecture that goes up into space” and said that new defense companies would have a hand in getting the project to its completion. But Trump and others who announced the plan in the Oval Office on Tuesday expressed confidence that no other missile defense system in the world would match the one Trump hopes is fully operational by the time he leaves office.

“Our technology sector is head and shoulders ahead of any other place in the world,” Sullivan said.