The Trump administration will spend nearly $39 billion in the next several years on rapidly building the first parts of the new Golden Dome nationwide missile defense system.
Golden Dome funding in the $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 defense spending request includes $17.1 billion. That amount will be added to the $21.8 billion already allocated for a total of $38.9 billion, the White House Office of Management and Budget disclosed in budget documents.
The office stated in the budget request made public Friday that the new system of space-, ground- and sea-based defenses against missiles, aircraft and drones will involve “game-changing space-based missile defense sensors and interceptors, kinetic and non-kinetic missile defeat and defense capabilities, and enabling technologies for a layered, next-generation homeland missile defense system.”
“By investing in a layered defense of the homeland from the Nation’s adversaries, this effort keeps Americans safe,” the report said.
The budget for fiscal 2027 creates a Golden Dome Fund for the program.
Nearly all funds for the system are designated as mandatory spending outside of normal discretionary budget constraints, part of an administration strategy to speed up Golden Done and protect its funding from future congressional restraints.
The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency will receive the largest line item of $4.5 billion for improving the current ground-based missile defenses, next-generation interceptors and sensors that will support Golden Dome.
Space Force programs will receive $4.5 billion for the low-Earth orbit sensor and tracking satellites that are central to the new system.
The Air Force will receive $615 million for airborne sensors, battle management aircraft and integration with existing Air Force air and missile defenses.
The Army will get $427 million for ground-based anti-missile systems, including short-to-medium range interceptors and integration with existing Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems.
Classified sensor programs to support space intelligence capabilities for targeting and battle management layers will receive $497 million.
For directed energy weapons, the Pentagon will spend $452 million for high-energy lasers and high-powered microwave weapons that will support kinetic anti-missile interceptors.
The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency is slated to spend $174 million on advanced technologies such as exotic propulsion for interceptors, artificial intelligence-powered fire control and advanced sensor modalities.
Space Force Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, director of Golden Dome, said last month the current program funding of about $25 billion is an enormous amount of national treasure. The military is “off and running and building out the foundation for Golden Dome.”
“First and foremost, the reason we have Golden Dome is because the nation is relatively undefended. We have got to rapidly change that equation,” Gen. Guetlein said during a conference March 3.
“World events are just showing just how dangerous the environment has gotten. We have a numerous amount of threats out there that we’ve got to start fielding capability to make sure we can defend the American public again, and I mean the entire homeland, not just [the continental United States,” he said.
The general spoke at a rare public talk at a defense conference hosted by McAleese and Associates, a defense consulting firm.
Details of the new system remain largely secret.
The plan, one of President Trump’s signature national security initiatives, calls for deploying U.S. territory-wide integrated air and missile defense system by the early 2030s.
The initial system will be structured as a multilayered defense using space-based missile interceptors synced with land-based anti-missile systems fused with a high-technology warning, tracking and command and control network.
Pentagon briefing slides in August disclosed the system is designed to leverage advanced artificial intelligence capabilities to integrate sensors and interceptors in speeding up detection and tracking.
For the space-based arms, the briefing slides mention utilizing designs from a canceled Strategic Defense Initiative program from the 1980s called Brilliant Pebbles that uses space-based projectiles to defeat enemy missiles passing through space.
Gen. Guetlein estimates the total cost for the system will be around $185 billion. So far there have been no failures in the elements of the system being developed and several successful tests were carried out, he said.
The four-star space general said he is working closely with the defense and high-technology industry and the military services on the system.
The Golden Dome program office is “very lean and efficient” and has divided work among other agencies. Space based interceptors are being worked on by the Space System Command with radars being developed by the Navy and Missile Defense Agency, Gen. Guetlein said.
Anti-missile munitions are being built by the Army, Navy and Missile defense agency, he said.
The capabilities needed for the system include sensing missile and other threats, rapidly analyzing masses of data and then directing interceptors to fire and defeat the threats, he said.
Gen. Guetlein dismissed critics who say the system will cost more than $1 trillion noting that estimate is based on weapons and technology used int eh past for fighting “the away game” — overseas conflicts.
“We are changing that equation for Golden Dome, simplifying it, if you will, disaggregating if it, if you will, to bring down that cost equation and not exceed that $185 billion that the President has committed to the nation,” he said.
The most risk for meeting goals and deadlines will be in building space-based interceptors that is not related to the technology but to “scalability and the affordability,” Gen. Guetlein said.
The greatest potential benefits of Golden Dome will be in directed energy weapons, such as lasers, and in non-kinetic capabilities called “left of launch” system capable of disabling, disrupting or defeating enemy missiles prior to launch, he said.
Left of launch capabilities include both cyber warfare and electronic warfare weapons.
Golden Dome developers are utilizing existing weapons and technology that can be rapidly deployed against missile threats, he said.
“We have to process enormous amounts of data so next generation processing capability, as well as artificial intelligence, are going to be the next two biggest things I leverage for Golden Dome,” he said.
The key to success will be changing the arms procurement system in the Pentagon that will be speeding up weapons building and deployment.
“We are trying to empower our acquirers to move faster,” Gen. Guetlein said. “We’re trying to eliminate bureaucracy where we can. We’re trying to leverage industry, the innovation coming out of industry, the capabilities coming out of industry, as much as we can.”
Golden Dome will be a proving ground one of the administration’s top priorities – fixing an outdate and bureaucratic weapons procurement systems.
“The [Defense] Department is serious about that. I cannot overstate how serious they are about that change under arsenal of freedom,” he said.
Initially billed by Mr. Trump in May 2025 as a three-year deployment, Golden Dome is now slated to be deployed in phases through the mid-2030s.
The budget documents recognize the difficulty of creating a seamless, multi-layered missile shield.
“The goal is to not create a ’perfect’ defense, but to provide an increasingly effective shield that enhances the U.S. capability to deter attacks, disincentivize arms racing, and negotiate from a position of strength,” one budget document states. “For Fiscal Year 2027, the program will balance investments in next-generation technologies with the strengthening of existing foundational capabilities to improve near-term readiness and build for the future.”
The program also will bolster “the credibility of U.S. deterrence strategies, assures allies, and provides a stronger position for the Nation should deterrence fail,” the document states.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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