Photo: Missile Defense Agency
Golden Dome: 5 Big Developments Wrapping Up 2025
Plenty of big Golden Dome news hit the streets to wrap up an already consequential 2025 for the program. The Department of War informed certain companies that they could compete for the billions of dollars in contracts as part of Golden Dome, the nascent homeland missile defense system.
Program director and Wash100 Award winner Gen. Michael Guetlein also provided some interesting insights about the homeland missile defense system to the public, which will certainly spur interest into the already-highly-anticipated defense system. Lastly, key compromise legislation including Golden Dome was released and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Let’s dive into the five biggest Golden Dome headlines for the end of the year.
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What’s the Latest News on Golden Dome?
1. MDA Taps First Companies Under SHIELD
The DOW in early December told 1,014 firms that they could compete for Golden Dome contracts when they were selected as part of the first phase of the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD. Companies that receive awards under SHIELD, an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, will be eligible for funding from a pool worth as much as $151 billion.
The contract vehicle received bids from 2,463 companies. The DOW didn’t specify which companies were selected in SHIELD’s first round.
SHIELD is one of many initiatives created for developing Golden Dome. The homeland missile defense infrastructure is contemplated as a vast network of weapons and sensors leveraged across many domains that can detect, track and stop incoming missiles threats.
The Missile Defense Agency also has another Golden Dome contracting vehicle known as the Multiple Authority Announcement, DefenseScoop reported. This will be leveraged to issue contract awards for hypersonic and kinetic defense, space-based technologies, command-and-control battle management and other capabilities.
2. Guetlein Announces First Golden Dome Operational Capability Goal
Guetlein said Golden Dome will have some “operational capability” by mid-2028, Air and Space Forces Magazine reported on Dec. 7. Guetlein’s remarks at the Reagan Defense Forum were significant because they represent the latest information shared with the public and not just industry.
Guetlein said Golden Dome will leverage existing programs and systems and won’t be built from scratch. The DOW is acquiring existing interceptors needed for Golden Dome, which could include Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and Patriot missile systems. Guetlein didn’t clarify which existing interceptors were being acquired.
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3. First Space-Based Interceptor Contracts Awarded
Northrop Grumman, Anduril, Lockheed Martin and True Anomaly were awarded the first contracts to develop boost phase space-based interceptors for Golden Dome, SatNews reported in a Dec. 11 article. These awards were valued between $9 and $10 million per company.
SatNews believes Anduril receiving an award along with traditional primes Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin demonstrates the DOW’s “buy vs. build” procurement strategy for Golden Dome. This should deprioritize the strict multi-year cycles found in traditional defense contracting in favor of speed and innovation preferred under the second Trump administration.
These prototypes will compete for production contracts in coming years that could be worth billions of dollars.
4. Golden Dome’s Technology Is Feasible
Guetlein also said that “social engineering and organizational behavior,” not technology, was Golden Dome’s biggest challenge. This is because each DOW service, agency and even international allies have their own rules, methods of doing business and cultures.
Guetlein said this was why the DOW created the direct report program manager infrastructure. This provides him with new and wide-ranging authorities across the DOW to create a new homeland defense program.
5. Broad Support for Additional Golden Dome Funding
Sixty-eight percent of respondents to a poll commissioned by the Ronald Reagan Institute approve of increasing Golden Dome funding with 26 percent opposed, according to Breaking Defense. The bipartisan survey covered more than 2,500 people..
Congress recently weighed in on the program with compromise FY 2026 defense authorization bill language authorizing funding for Golden Dome. The legislation also authorizes additional funding for air and missile defense development and testing, including full funding for THAAD, SM-3 Block IIA and Patriot.
The House passed the compromise version of the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act on Dec. 11. The bill must pass the Senate before being considered for signing into law by President Trump.
What Is Golden Dome?
Golden Dome is President Trump’s signature defense effort—a U.S. missile defense system inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome. The program has a goal of fielding space-based interceptors and similar technologies as part of a wide-ranging missile defense infrastructure.
One of the key hurdles for Golden Dome is differentiating between space debris, decoys and incoming missiles. Another is maturing technologies such as space-based interceptors to help it reach full operational capability.
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