The US has decided to boost its air defence system with Golden Dome in the next four years. President Donald John Trump recently announced that Washington DC would install the Golden Dome, a multi-layer defensive system, by the end of 2029 in order to counter “the threat of ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles” posed to the mainland US. He stressed that the Golden Dome, at an estimated cost of USD 175 billion, would eventually “deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea and space“.

It may be noted that President Trump repeatedly mentioned the new defence system during his campaign for the 2024 Presidential Election. In the fourth week of May 2025, he told the media: “In the campaign, I promised the American people I would build a cutting-edge missile defence shield. Today, I am pleased to announce we have officially selected architecture for this state-of-the-art system.” He added: “Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world, and even if they are launched from space. This is very important for the success and even survival of our country.” Reports suggest that neighbouring Canada may also join this US initiative., although nothing has been officially announced by Ottawa yet.

Meanwhile, the US Congressional Budget Office believes that the cost of building the Golden Dome could be much higher than what President Trump has mentioned. The President made the announcement in the presence of US Secretary of Defence Peter Brian Hegseth, who stated: “The Department of Defence is working with the Office of Management and Budget to develop a plan to fund recommended capabilities arising from the President’s directive, allowing sufficient time for consideration by the President before finalisation of the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY 2026) Budget. We are working with Congress to secure USD 25 billion of funding in the One Big Beautiful reconciliation bill for critical capabilities necessary to ensure the protection of the US homeland from the aerial threats of today and tomorrow.“

While addressing the US Congress on March 4, 2025 after being sworn in as President, Trump stressed on the importance of installing the Golden Dome. The Iron Dome of Israel is quite famous among the air defence systems in the contemporary world. The Jewish air defence has proven its worth in the Israel-Hamas War that has been going on since October 7, 2023. According to the US President, the Golden Dome would be far better than the Israeli air defence system. Trump signed an executive order on defence on January 27 (2025), mentioning the new air defence system.

In fact, the US plans to develop a space-based infrared laser defence system through Golden Dome. It would help the US military to detect, track, intercept and destroy incoming hypersonic, ballistic and cruise missiles in mid-air.

Meanwhile…

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das