TASS FACTBOX. On January 14, US President Donald Trump stated that Greenland is of strategic importance for building the Golden Dome missile defense system.

Golden Dome

Golden Dome is a project to create a multi-layered missile defense system. Donald Trump raised the issue of developing it during his first presidential term (2017-2021), but these ideas did not go any further. He signed an executive order to create the new missile defense system on January 28, 2025, immediately after returning to the White House for a second term. During a joint presentation by Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on May 20, 2025, it was stated that this would be a defensive shield capable of intercepting threats from land, sea, air, and space, repelling missile attacks at all stages. According to Trump, this would be "completing the job President Reagan started 40 years ago" (the Strategic Defense Initiative, SDI; introduced in 1983 and phased out in the early 1990s), and completely eliminate the missile threat to the United States.

The project envisions the creation of a "system of systems" combining existing missile defense elements (silo-based GBI missiles, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors, ships equipped with the Aegis system and Standard SM-3 interceptor missiles) with advanced developments. The concept of the new system centers on the idea of continuous global surveillance—from ground-based radars to an orbital constellation of interceptor satellites. Trump stated that "next-generation technologies" from land, sea, and space would be used to create it.

US Space Force General Michael Guetlein was appointed the program manager. In September 2025, he presented a development plan for the project. According to Reuters sources, the plan calls for a constellation of 400 to 1,000 satellites to detect missiles and 200 satellites equipped with kinetic interceptors (missiles) or lasers to destroy them. The Golden Dome is expected to be able to intercept missiles at all stages of their flight, including the first two minutes of their flight, when their trajectory is "predictable" and they cannot maneuver.

Timeline, Cost

Donald Trump announced plans to deploy the system before the end of his presidency in January 2029. His administration plans to spend $175 billion on its creation. However, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the project will take approximately 20 years to complete, with costs potentially reaching $831 billion. Bloomberg estimated the project's cost at $1.1 trillion, noting that this is based on the price of weapons and defense systems, but does not include operating costs, personnel salaries, or research and development of new technologies.

In September 2025, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency announced the launch of a competitive bid for the Golden Dome program. This is a single contract, SHIELD (Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense), which involves the participation of multiple contractors. As a result, 1,014 companies were selected from nearly 2,500 applicants, with potential future contracts. These include defense companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon (RTX), BAE Systems, General Dynamics, and many medium-and small-sized companies. Contractors are expected to perform work ranging from research and prototype development to testing, serial production, operation, and modernization. The maximum contract value is set at $151 billion, with a ten-year implementation period. The initiative covers both classified and open programs used at various security levels.

Countries' Response

The US plans have been criticized by Russia and China. In a joint statement on May 8, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping noted that the US program is "deeply destabilizing." The document emphasizes that the program envisions a significant strengthening of the arsenal of capabilities for conducting combat operations in space, including the development and deployment of interception systems in orbit, thereby transforming outer space into a weapons deployment environment and an arena for armed confrontation.

At a briefing on May 27 last year, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called the intention to deploy the new missile defense system "an expression of the US extremely dangerous doctrine of preemptive strikes." Zakharova emphasized that the situation is additionally exacerbated by the fact that the Golden Dome directly provides for a significant expansion of the arsenal of means for combat operations in space, including deploying interceptor systems on orbit. "And such actions aim to ensure the possibility of using force or threatening to use it in space, from space or with regard to space which turns it into a weaponized environment and the arena of armed confrontation," she noted.

North Korea joined Russia and China voicing concerns that the American initiative provokes a nuclear and space arms race. US allies, in particular Canada and Japan, are considering investing in Trump’s proposed missile defense shield.