Name: What Trump’s $175 Billion Golden Dome Means for the Space Arms Race
Uploaded: 2025-05-29T04:09:00Z
Duration: 5 min 15 s
Description: President Trump upended years of geopolitics and domestic defense strategy when he announced he wanted to build a $175 billion missile defense shield that he’s calling the “Golden Dome.” WSJ’s Shelby Holliday breaks down what it might look like, and why Trump wants it.

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President Trump upended years of geopolitics and domestic defense strategy when he announced he wanted to build a $175 billion missile defense shield that he’s calling the “Golden Dome.” WSJ’s Shelby Holliday breaks down what it might look like, and why Trump wants it. Photo: Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

https://m.wsj.net/video/20250529/5bd92e7f-c92a-4587-aebf-41fa8b4bb698/1/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

President Trump upended years of geopolitics and domestic defense strategy when he announced he wanted to build a $175 billion missile defense shield that he’s calling the “Golden Dome.” WSJ’s Shelby Holliday breaks down what it might look like, and why Trump wants it.

What Trump’s $175 Billion Golden Dome Means for the Space Arms Race

The Golden Dome for America is game changer.

President Trump's Golden Dome plan might look simple here, but if the $175 billion missile defense shield is going to work the way he wants it to, the US will need to put technology into space that is incredibly complex. In some cases, we're talking about satellites that don't even exist yet.

The only time that I can think of in the history of the United States where we have gone after something this complex was the Manhattan Project.

In the short term, experts say, we'll probably see more existing defense systems placed around the country. Long term, those systems will have to interact with hundreds of satellites that are supposed to detect, track, and eventually even intercept high tech missiles from space. That's because competitors like China and Russia are racing to develop missiles that can maneuver and evade current defenses.

I think innovation's gonna continue, and we can't imagine or predict what our competitor nations are gonna come up with.

Here's what the Golden Dome could ultimately look like, and why some worry that it will fuel a dangerous arms race in space. To understand why officials say the Golden Dome is needed, you first have to understand how missile technology is advancing. We'll start with the standard Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, or ICBM, which travels in a high arc. This kind of missile, boosted by a rocket, travels to its peak hundreds of miles above the Earth, and then is brought down by gravity. ICBMs are very dangerous. They can carry multiple nuclear warheads, and even be shot from submarines. But their trajectory is predictable, making them easier to detect and track with radar. So several defense systems are capable of shooting one of these down. Now there's a newer and more dangerous intercontinental missile called the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System, or FOBS. These can fly much lower. This kind of weapon is launched into a partial or fractional orbit. Since it doesn't travel in a high arc, the weapon can fly under the radar for much of its flight. It's capable of reaching its target much faster, and crucially, it can approach from unexpected angles, meaning defenses don't know when or where it's coming down. Another newer threat is the boosted hypersonic glide weapon, which is an intercontinental missile that can maneuver and evade defenses. These missiles are launched into space and ultimately travel at extremely fast speeds, greater than Mach 5. And after they enter the atmosphere, they maneuver to their targets on a glide vehicle. Because they can glide at low altitudes and change course midair, they can be extremely hard to detect and counter. So how will the Golden Dome help upgrade the US' defenses to counter these new threats? The US already has a network of satellites that scans for infrared signatures, so they can detect when and where missiles launch. But those satellites can't determine the type of missiles being fired.

The maneuverability, the gliding, the outmaneuvering of our defenses. Those are all the challenges that we're trying to address. So we need a sensor layer that can keep track and custody of all of these objects as they are maneuvering.

A sensor layer, which the Pentagon has already been developing, is a network of tracking satellites that President Trump wants to expedite. By launching hundreds and eventually even thousands of sensors into orbit, the US says it will be able to detect, and importantly, track missiles as they maneuver and change course. Officials say the system will be able to calculate where a missile is heading so that defense systems can intercept it. But the Golden Dome won't stop there. The US wants to field even more ambitious and controversial space technology that hasn't even been fully developed yet. We're talking about space interceptors.

It's not clear what the design is. The satellite might contain multiple interceptors, as in like a mother and daughter. It's not clear what the design is, what the US will end up pursuing.

Whatever they end up looking like, these interceptors will, in theory, be key, because they'll be able to take out missiles much earlier in their flight. However, this is where things get very controversial. If you put interceptors in space, you could potentially do a lot more than just take out missile threats. You could imagine them being used offensively, let's say, to take out satellites belonging to China or Russia. It's no surprise those countries, America's biggest competitors in space have come out against the Golden Dome

Our enemies are very unhappy about it. You've been hearing, you've been reading. Why are they doing that, why? Well, we're doing it because we wanna be around for a long time. That's why we're doing it.

President Trump has said the Golden Dome will cost $175 billion and be done by the end of his term. Though experts say it could cost billions more and take much longer to build out, that is if it's actually ever finished. Previous presidents, most notably Ronald Reagan, have attempted ambitious missile defense efforts in the past.

What must be recognized is that our security is based on being prepared to meet all threats.

Those initiatives fell short because of high costs, technological shortcomings, and even pressure from foreign countries. The big question now is whether President Trump will be able to overcome those very same obstacles.

News moves fast, and there's not always time to untangle the complex forces driving the day's biggest stories. WSJ Explains breaks down big market moves, business and economic trends, and scientific developments to help you stay ahead of the curve.