Imagine a future where North Korea launches a surprise missile barrage, China unleashes a wave of hypersonics, and Russia sends intercontinental ballistic missiles arcing over the North Pole. In this nightmare scenario, the only thing standing between those warheads and millions of lives is a massive new missile defense system called The Golden Dome.
However, that assumes it doesn’t end up being a total boondoggle.
Initially announced as The Iron Dome for America, and then glitzed up as The Golden Dome, the project, estimated to cost up to $175 billion, was ordered by President Donald Trump, who said during a May 20 press briefing that “it should be fully operational before the end of my term, so we’ll have it done in about three years.” The Dome, whether Iron or Gold, would create an all-encompassing missile shield that can detect, track, and destroy virtually any incoming aerial threat, like drones and ballistic missiles, before it strikes U.S. territory. It has been described by Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein as a project on the scale of the Manhattan Project, the top-secret World War II initiative that produced the atomic bomb.
But where that project delivered a functional weapon in just a few years, The Golden Dome faces far more complicated technical, financial, and strategic hurdles.
In this video, we break down what The Golden Dome is, and isn’t, like how it’s not a big shimmering bubble over America and is instead an integrated network of sensors, interceptors, and data systems backed up by AI-enhanced decision-making tools.
And a number of systems already in operation today will form the backbone of The Golden Dome. The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, whose origin can be traced back to the Strategic Defense Initiative, uses advanced SM-3 and SM-6 interceptors to target missiles in the midcourse and terminal phases. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, operated by the U.S. Army, is capable of high-altitude terminal intercepts and has a proven track record in live-fire testing and a handful of real-world engagements. Meanwhile, Patriot batteries, upgraded with PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE missiles, serve as the last line of defense, targeting incoming threats at lower altitudes and closer ranges.
We also dive into the price tag, which was initially estimated at $175 billion, but will likely come in at around $500 billion to $900 billion over 20 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
And then there’s the question of whether it will actually work. This type of missile defense system has never been built before, and will require dozens of systems, some of which don’t exist yet, and they all have to function together seamlessly, in real time, from anywhere on the planet, but also in space.
So, yeah, we’ll see.
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