Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday announced the selection of U.S. Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein to oversee the Golden Dome missile defense initiative, a high-cost and technologically complex program intended to build a national shield against advanced missile threats, including hypersonic and ballistic weapons.
Speaking during an Oval Office briefing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and several Republican lawmakers, Trump said the system would cost an estimated $175 billion and be completed within three years. “We will truly be completing the job that President Reagan started 40 years ago, forever ending the missile threat to the American homeland,” Trump said, referencing the unfulfilled Strategic Defense Initiative from the 1980s.
The Golden Dome project is envisioned as a multi-layered defense network employing ground-based interceptors, space-based sensors, and AI-integrated command systems to detect, track, and neutralize incoming threats before they reach U.S. soil. According to Hegseth, the platform will defend against “cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, drones, whether they're conventional or nuclear.”
Trump also claimed the finalized architecture would integrate with existing defense systems and incorporate emerging technologies across land, sea, and space. “Hypersonic missiles, ballistic missiles and advanced cruise missiles, all of them will be knocked out of the air,” he said.
A $25 billion initial investment for the project was included in a pending Republican-backed reconciliation bill that proposes a $150 billion increase to the Pentagon's 2025 budget. The bill faces pushback from Democrats concerned about costs and potential geopolitical fallout.
Canada has shown interest in joining the program, though no formal agreements have been announced. Meanwhile, economic implications were highlighted by Republican Senator Jim Banks of Indiana, who said, “Golden Dome is going to be very good for the defense industry in my state.” L3Harris Technologies in Fort Wayne is expected to produce satellite sensor payloads for the system.
Guetlein, currently vice chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force, brings extensive experience in missile warning and space-based defense systems. His previous roles include command of Space Systems Command and senior posts at the National Reconnaissance Office and the Missile Defense Agency.
Trump praised Guetlein as “the most qualified” for the role and emphasized his urgency: “He also knows that we need to move fast.”
Guetlein, who likened the scale of the program to the Manhattan Project, stressed the organizational challenges ahead. “The biggest challenge won't be the technology—it'll be aligning agencies and overcoming bureaucracy,” he said. He has previously advocated for incorporating artificial intelligence and commercial tech into national security efforts, approaches expected to play a key role in Golden Dome's execution.