Former Department of Defense leaders are calling for the adoption of a more agile and flexible approach to military requirements in building the Golden Dome, a missile defense infrastructure that will protect the nation from airborne threats. In an essay posted on RealClearDefense, Chris Williams, who served as acting under secretary of defense for policy, and Peppi DeBiaso, who previously headed the Office of Missile Defense Policy, discussed how the Pentagon must evolve to build an effective integrated air and missile defense, or IAMD, system.
Exploring New Acquisition Strategies for Golden Dome
In their essay, Williams and DeBiaso urged DOD leadership to leave behind the traditional requirements process of establishing detailed performance specifications for technologies that will be fielded years into the future. Instead, they backed an incremental approach in line with the Missile Defense Agency’s proposed homeland defense epochs.
In a request for information published in January, MDA identified four epochs: the first epoch aims to deliver and demonstrate capabilities by Dec. 31, 2026. Epochs 2, 3 and 4 set the deadline for capability delivery and demonstration on 2028, 2030 and 2032, respectively.
For each of the epochs, there will be achievable objectives.
“This evolutionary approach underscores the fact that the rapid deployment of even modest and imperfect air and missile defenses can play an important role in deterrence and defense by beginning to immediately close shortfalls in today’s capabilities,” Williams and DeBiaso wrote. “It also helps usher in an era of combined space- and ground-based defenses that maximize the contributions of each layer for a more synergistic and effective defensive architecture.”
An evolutionary approach, the essay authors said, is in line with the President’s instruction for the DOD to implement capabilities-based requirements for the Golden Dome. It would also open opportunities for the Pentagon to use acquisition authorities.
