President Trump on Tuesday announced that his administration has selected the architectural design for a new “Golden Dome” missile defense system aimed at shielding the United States from foreign threats.
The project will begin with $25 billion in funding included in the Republican budget package currently being finalized on Capitol Hill, with a total projected cost of around $175 billion.
“Today, I’m pleased to announce that we have officially selected an architecture for this state-of-the-art system that will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors,” Trump said during an Oval Office briefing alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Trump stated the system should be fully operational before the end of his term in January 2029 and will be built across multiple states, including Alaska, Florida, Georgia, and Indiana. He added that a range of American defense and tech companies will be involved, though contracts have not yet been awarded. Canada has also expressed interest in joining the effort, and Trump said the U.S. is open to helping its northern neighbor.
Once complete, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles launched from anywhere in the world—even from space. “We will have the best system ever built,” Trump declared.
Trump’s announcement follows the release of a new, unclassified intelligence assessment from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which outlines growing threats over the next decade. The DIA warns that the U.S. faces an expanding array of missile threats, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, land attack cruise missiles, and fractional orbital bombardment systems.
Trump likened the planned system to Israel’s Iron Dome, noting the U.S. version will be more expansive and technologically advanced.
