President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announce key details of the planned Golden Dome missile defense architecture on May 20. Photo: Screenshot via White House YouTube

President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Tuesday announced key details of the planned Golden Dome missile defense architecture, with an expected total cost of $175 billion, timeline to be ready within three years and be run by the Vice Chief of Space Operations.

Speaking during a press conference in the oval office, Trump said the system will deploy “next-generation technologies” across land, sea, and space with space-based sensors and interceptors; integrate with existing missile defense capabilities; and “should be fully operational before the end of my term. So we’ll have it done in about three years.”

He said the system is planned to be capable of intercepting ballistic, hypersonic and advanced cruise missiles.

“We will truly be completing the job that President Reagan started 40 years ago, forever ending the missile threat to the American homeland. And the success rate is very close to 100 percent which is incredible, when you think of it, you’re shooting bullets out of the air.”

In the middle of his explanation of the system, Trump said Canada has sent word it wants to be involved and said Canada “has called us and they want to be a part of it. So we’ll be talking to them, they want to have protection also. So as usual, we help Canada, do the best we can.”

On cost, Trump said the total cost will be about $175 billion when complete, but confirmed the reconciliation bill will include $25 billion  “to help construction get underway, that’s an initial sort of a [down-payment].” 

The administration did not clarify if the reconciliation funding is part of the $175 billion cost or in addition to it.

This program originated with a Jan. 27 executive order from Trump that directed the development of a missile defense shield to protect the entire U.S. home territory from various threats, including by using space-based interceptors. The order, originally called Iron Dome for America, directed Hegseth to present plans for the new missile defense shield within 60 days.

Trump also announced he will also appoint Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein to lead the effort as the direct reporting program manager for Golden Dome.

“Mike is a four star Space Force General, the recipient of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, one of the most respected people in the world, having to do with defense … he has an unmatched background in missile warning technology and defense procurement.”

Trump also noted Guetlein “knows that we need to move fast. No one is more qualified for his job, and everybody – this was a universal acceptance of Gen. Guetlein. Everybody that knows him and knows everybody else – they said there’s only one man for the job. So I have a feeling we have the right guy.”

Guetlein said Golden Dome is a “bold and aggressive approach to hurry up and protect the homeland from our adversaries,” after adversaries have become more capable and intend to hold the homeland at risk via modernizing nuclear weapons forces, building ballistic missiles to host multiple warheads, build out hypersonic missile capability, cruise missiles to navigate around existing U.S. radars and defenses, submarines and space weapons.

When asked what companies will be involved in building Golden Dome, Trump deferred to three attending Republican senators but noted Alaska will play a big part, North Dakota is involved, “but honestly Georgia is going to be very big, Florida is going to be very big, they’re all going to be very big.”

Sen. Jim Banks (R- Ind.) underscored an important role for L3Harris Technologies as it builds satellites in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said he and other legislators are working on a Golden Dome Act, “which we think will have in terms of legislation that can help cement what you’re doing right here, getting the Congress behind it, not just with the funding, but with authorization.”

He also reiterated Alaska is the home of most of the current Ground-based Midcourse Defense system and radar systems to track incoming missiles.

Sullivan underscored Golden Dome will include a layered and open architecture with some “new defense tech companies” very interested in participating, which will help lower the cost of missile defense.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) added the new defense ecosystem “is more about Silicon Valley than it is about big metal…it makes it available to everybody to participate, to compete, big companies, mid-sized companies, small companies.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Reuters first reported some details of the plan, including that SpaceX is working with Palantir and Anduril in a joint bid and have met with administration officials.

The report said the companies plan to be able to build and launch 400 to 1,000 satellites to track missiles while a constellation of 200 satellites would use missiles or lasers to target enemy missiles. It said the SpaceX group would not be involved in satellite weaponization.

The official White House announcement did not go into that level of specifics.

This story was first published by Defense Daily