U.S. Defense Leaders Lay Out ‘Manhattan Project-Scale’ Vision For Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ Project

US soldiers work on a Patriot missile system at a Turkish military base in Gaziantep

U.S. defense leaders have begun conceptualizing plans to develop a “Golden Dome” defense system capable of protecting the country from long-range missile strikes.

President Donald Trump ordered the Defense Department to begin drawing up plans in January, taking inspiration from Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

President Trump’s Golden Dome would need to be much more complex and than Israel’s Iron Dome due to the U.S.’s much larger land mass, making the project exponentially larger in scale.

“Golden Dome for America is a revolutionary concept to further the goals of peace through strength and President Trump’s vision for deterring adversaries from attacks on the homeland. This next generation defense shield will identify incoming projectiles, calculate trajectory and deploy interceptor missiles to destroy them mid-flight, safeguarding the homeland and projecting American Strength,” Lockheed Martin, a top American defense and aerospace manufacturer, wrote.

“This is a Manhattan Project-scale mission, one that is both urgent and crucial to America’s security.”

Imagine a defense system that shields America from aerial threats, hypersonic missiles and drone swarms with unmatched speed and accuracy. Thanks to President @realDonaldTrump's vision, Golden Dome will make this a reality, securing our future. pic.twitter.com/vyXHzpbTw2

— Lockheed Martin (@LockheedMartin) March 19, 2025

The potential budget for the project is unclear as plans are still currently being drawn up, although the grand project is likely to cost billions to construct and maintain.

“This is going to be layers of architecture working together at all group level elevations… to protect the United States … so we’re going to need all the services and agencies that do this kind of work to step up,” stated Steven Morani, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment.

The project was previously requested by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s, although the technology required wasn’t available at the time.

Meanwhile, retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery told CNN that he believes the defense system is at least 7-10 years out, and will have severe limitations, possibly only able to defend critical federal buildings and major cities.

Montgomery stated the project will likely include a system of satellites to communicate and sense incoming missiles.

“You’ve gotta be responsible here,” he continued. “You’re not going to be able to defend everything with these ground-based missiles. They defend a circle around them, but it’s not large.”

Despite skepticism, Raytheon CEO Phil Jasper stated that he believes some of the defensive measures could be installed as soon as 2026.

“In our view, it has to kind of be a layered system. Because, you know, shooting a UAV, for example, is very different than shooting a hypersonic vehicle or hypersonic weapon,” Jasper stated. “What the administration has laid out is that building block approach that you can start to protect certain areas, at times, certain regions, and build that out as you continue to produce these systems. And they can continue to come off of production lines.”

Furthermore, Edward Zoiss, president of space and airborne systems at L3Harris Technologies, notes that new intercontinental ballistic missiles pose an additional challenge, as their unpredictable flight paths make them harder to intercept.

“If you go back to your high school physics class, if you understand the angle and trajectory of a bullet, you understand exactly where it’s going to land because it follows a parabola,” Zoiss stated.

“ICBMs followed parabola trajectories for decades. But a new class of highly maneuverable cruise weapons and hypersonic weapons now don’t,” he continued. “Their endpoint is uncertain. And our defensive systems in the U.S. now have to change to be more robust in order to track that weapon throughout its entire trajectory.”

“Our challenge is really long-range weapons. You know, it’s weapons progressing large distances that are maneuvering around our current land-based and sea-based radar systems. So, if the weapons maneuver around those systems, that means our current architecture can’t provide fire control ordnance. And, therefore, it has to be moved to space,” Zoiss added.

The funding for the project is expected to be presented to Congress in President Trump’s 2026 fiscal year budget request, which is currently being ironed out.

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