Golden Dome Puts Development of Space Sensor Layer in Focus

The Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile defense system represents an ambitious attempt to future-proof U.S. missile defense against rapidly evolving threats, but its success hinges on overcoming technological, logistical and leadership challenges, according to defense leadership and experts.

“It’s a layered defense, so if you miss at one, you catch it at the next,” said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in May. “It integrates existing technologies that can speak to each other, so it moves quickly, while also investing in further ranging, space-based interceptors.”

The concept is a sweeping architecture, aiming to detect and neutralize ballistic, hypersonic and advanced cruise missiles in all phases of flight. President Donald Trump’s reintroduction of such a space-centric defense came months after a January executive order directing the Defense Department to begin construction of a new missile defense system.

Center for Strategic and International Studies Missile Defense Project Fellow Masao Dahlgren said that the Pentagon has invested heavily in ballistic missile defense, including 44 ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, but there’s no comprehensive architecture for detecting or intercepting cruise missiles or hypersonic missiles across the continental U.S.

“The sensor layer is going to be prioritized in Golden Dome,” Dahlgren said. “Those are worthwhile investments — achievable and already underway — but they need acceleration.”

Current U.S. ballistic missile defense systems primarily focus on intercepting threats in their mid-course phase, Dahlgren said, outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has been actively developing capabilities to counter emerging threats, particularly hypersonic missiles, which pose a significant challenge due to their speed, maneuverability and unpredictable flight paths.

“When you’re thinking about scoping a Golden Dome and what it should be … I suspect that there’s going to be a major space-based component to this architecture,” Dahlgren told GovCIO Media & Research.

The White House and Pentagon will integrate these capabilities into Golden Dome, according to the Defense Department, adding a robust boost-phase intercept component through its space-based interceptors. The architecture of Golden Dome, while still in conceptual phases, will be critical to future-proofing adversarial advances.

“If you don’t have a space-based sensor layer, you can’t do hypersonic defense. If you don’t have a space-based sensor, you can’t do space-based interceptors,” Dahlgren said. “If you don’t have a space-based sensor layer, you can’t improve your defense against the existing ballistic threats that we already have.”

Administering the Future System Across DOD

The White House acknowledged that the Golden Dome project requires significant coordination and strategic leadership from the Pentagon. This includes primarily the Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein, who was tapped in May to lead the project and officially assumed the position July 25.

“President Trump’s decision to have Gen. Guetlein serve as the Golden Dome Czar is a strategic move to strengthen our national defense at a critical time,” said Congressional Golden Dome Caucus Chair Rep. Dale Strong in July.

Guetlein will work with national security offices to develop Golden Dome, including the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). NORAD will contribute to the project as its core function is to work bilaterally with Canada to protect North American airspace, the agency said in a statement provided to GovCIO Media & Research.

“As we continue gathering information from industry, academia, national labs and other government agencies for support to Golden Dome for America, it would be imprudent for the Department to release further information on this program during these early stages, keeping operational security of this endeavor top of mind,” the agency wrote.

The NORAD network of satellites, ground-based radars, airborne radars and fighter jets will be foundational for the Golden Dome’s early warning and tracking systems, the agency said. NORAD provides an integrated tactical warning and attack assessment to the governments of Canada and the United States, as well, which Trump noted in May.

“Canada has called us, and they want to be a part of it,” Trump said. “They want to have protection also.”

Technological Frontiers and Hypersonics

The Golden Dome system pushes the boundaries of current defense technology, Dahlgren said. The system requires the deployment of thousands of proliferated space-based interceptors (SBIs) capable of “boost-phase intercept” — striking enemy missiles just moments after launch, when they are slowest and most vulnerable.

Dahlgren described the interceptors as the “keystone” of Golden Dome architectures, enabling early detection and tracking of missiles. Without this layer, intercepting hypersonics or deploying space-based interceptors becomes nearly impossible. The Space Development Agency is already building a government-owned constellation to support this effort, with a transport layer akin to a military-grade network, he added.

“I think that Golden Dome will offer some opportunities to maybe accelerate the transport layer program,” Dalhgren said. “[The project could] make it more robust and make sure that that program management is on track.”

Connective Satellites and Communication

DOD officials say that the Golden Dome project will require spectrum space and satellite integration. Pentagon Acting CIO Katie Arrington said in May that the spectrum scarcity is critical to managing Golden Dome going forward.

“Spectrum is something I would look at as the critical resources, like beachfront property. There’s no more of it. It’s laws of physics,” Arrington told Congress. “Between DOD R&E, my office, CDAO and across the DARPA, we are working to make best use of the spectrum that we have to ensure that we can provide Americans true security.”

Communications infrastructure for Golden Dome is essential, but will also be a target, making the space layer of the project critical.

“Russia and China have no reservations about weaponizing space and targeting our capabilities in space. They seem to view even the assets in space we use for communicating or for detecting malign behavior as targets,” Dahlgren said. “They view our civilian assets in space as targets.”

Dahlgren added that Golden Dome requires integrated military networking to missile defense, where sensors and launchers must communicate across vast distances. A robust sensor constellation could dramatically improve the performance of existing interceptors, making real-time coordination possible across land, sea and space. The scale could prove difficult to implement and costly, he said.

“[Golden Dome could need] constellations of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of satellites, in order to cover a salvo of one or two missiles launched at once,” said Dahlgrean. “There’s a scaling problem. For every missile that is added to a salvo in a given area, you need to multiply whatever the constellation size.”

Threats from China and Russia would be global, upping the complications of such a project.

“Maybe you don’t need global coverage. Maybe you can deal with smaller constellations that are more focused on certain bands on the earth,” said Dahlgren. “The scaling challenge remains … For every missile that’s launched, you need a constellation. The constellations get multiplied. Those numbers can really get big.”

The White House has framed the program as both a “dome” and a “shield,” but the global lattice rather than a fixed overhead structure means that advanced technology is critical to deployment.

“This can’t just be a science project,” Dahlgren said. “It has to have a laser focus on operationalizing capability.”