An artist’s concept of the Trump administration’s planned Golden Dome missile defense shield. Credit: Boeing
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With scant information from the White House on how to proceed with the ambitious Golden Dome national missile defense shield, the chairman of the U.S. House caucus focused on the effort said he’s standing by to get critical details out to stakeholders.
Speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Aerospace Summit on Wednesday, Rep. Dale Strong, R-Ala., said speed in communication is crucial to his role.
“The big thing I wanted to do is start that process [of work in the caucus] sooner rather than later, because I want to get as much information [as possible] to the vendors that are out there — that’s my goal as a United States congressman,” Strong said. “That dialogue is valuable.”
Communication with Space Force Gens. Stephen Whiting of U.S. Space Command and Michael Guetlein, Golden Dome program manager, is also paramount, he added.
“We’ve got some benchmarks that are coming. I want to be the first to get that so I can get it to each of you, because we’ve got to be sure that we’re successful,” Strong said. “We’re a little bit behind schedule, just based on where Congress put this process. But I can tell you this: I believe that we’ve got the right people at the right place, at the right time.”
In particular, Strong hailed President Donald Trump’s move earlier this month to relocate Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama, saying the state is making significant investments to support Golden Dome development.
The administration has kept a tight hold on details related to the Golden Dome project, even reportedly barring defense officials from talking about it in public forums. The next milestone for this program is expected this month, when the government is set to “socialize [the] objective architecture” and supporting partnerships for Golden Dome. Guetlein was tasked with his czar role in May, when Trump announced the plan to build the shield would cost $175 billion and take three years to execute. In July, he was given 60 days to roll out the program’s framework. A first test for Golden Dome has also reportedly been scheduled to take place ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
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The House Golden Dome Caucus was established in June with two Republican co-chairs to “serve as an educational clearinghouse for Members and staff to engage with civilian and military leadership, industry partners, think tanks, and others in relation to the Golden Dome Initiative,” according to an announcement from co-chair Rep. Jeff Crank of Colorado.
Phil Jasper, president of Raytheon, said he expects the project’s infrastructure to involve both legacy systems and new ones. Raytheon’s parent company, RTX, is among the long-time defense contractors likely to be selected for aspects of Golden Dome, the New York Times reported earlier this week.
“Golden Dome has to have the technology to deal with a myriad of threats that are out there, everything from low, slow-flying [unmanned aerial vehicles] through cruise missiles that are hard to detect — for example, ballistic missiles, even hypersonics. Potentially weapons from space as well,” Jasper said. “As you look at the technology needed to deal with that problem set, it really drives a need for what we’re calling a layered architecture.”
No single technology can handle the complete range of threats Golden Dome will need to defend against, Jasper said, noting that the architecture will need to incorporate everything from counter-drone systems to a national surface-to-air or Patriot missile system.
“The great thing is, with those technologies, they’re battle proven and tested, as we’re seeing pretty much each and every day throughout the world,” he said. “So you can start from a technology base that exists, and then as the threat continues to evolve, you can continue to innovate and add capabilities to the existing systems and augment those with new technologies.”
RTX is ramping up investments, Jasper said, citing the $115 million expansion of its missile integration facility in Huntsville, which began last year. That would allow the company to double production on “some of our key missile systems that are really critical for the world, and honestly, to support Golden Dome.”
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