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Jul 8, 2025
As part of his executive order onslaught upon taking office in January, President Trump laid out plans for an ambitious, futuristic aerial defense system dubbed “Golden Dome” — a fitting name for the ‘Golden Age’ branding the administration has repeatedly echoed with all the subtlety of a 1-800 number in an infomercial.
“As commander in chief, my focus is on building the most powerful military of the future,” the President explained during his inaugural address. “As a first step, I’m asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art Golden Dome missile defense shield to protect our homeland. All made in the USA.”
Specifically, the executive order called for non-kinetic capabilities to augment kinetic systems in order to defend against “advanced aerial attacks” (which can be directly translated to… “drones”). And more recently, the president announced a few additional details for the plan at a press conference: a price tag ($175 billion), a lead program manager for the project (U.S. Space Force General Michael Guetlein), and a deadline for the Dome to be operational (January 2029).