U.S. defense contractors, tech companies, government agencies and academia are collaborating to develop a next-generation, multi-layered missile defense shield for the homeland against hypersonic, ballistic and cruise missiles, requiring massive scaling of production, artificial intelligence integration and advancements in space-based sensors and interceptors. This defense shield, dubbed the Golden Dome, is President Donald Trump’s dream for the Pentagon.
Be informed of the latest Golden Dome opportunities at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 GovCon Executive Leadership Summit on Feb. 26! Peder Jungck, vice president and chief technology officer of BAE Systems’ intelligence and security sector, is among the panel speakers on the subject. Network and brainstorm on the next big endeavor. Sign up today!
Golden Dome will be similar to Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, which is designed to protect against inbound missile attacks.
What Is Golden Dome?
In early 2025, Trump announced a three-year, $175 billion plan to protect the U.S. from its adversaries, a vision that aims to stitch together existing Pentagon programs as well as new, developmental technologies such as space-based sensors and weapons. The Congressional Budget Office, however, estimates that the country would need to allocate $161 billion to $542 billion over 20 years to build a limited system.
Here are five ways that the industry is teaming up and putting forward initiatives to work on bringing about a defense shield for the homeland.
How Will Industry Collaborate to Develop Golden Dome?
Incorporating AI for Increased Autonomy
The U.S. Army is looking to increase autonomy through artificial intelligence solutions to reduce the manpower needed to manage Golden Dome. Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano said the service branch’s Program Executive Office Missiles and Space told French defense firm Safran that he is looking for ways to reduce humans having to perform actions, such as verifying that timing data is synchronized with satellite timing, so that Golden Dome can work autonomously, according to a Defense News report.
The Army has also started discussions with Anduril Industries, which bought defense company Numerica, the author of the service branch’s Integrated Battle Command System fire control software. The service talked with Anduril about how it can integrate more AI fire control functionality into its major air and missile defense command-and-control system.
Building Missile Defense Prototypes
Anduril, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and True Anomaly have been awarded contracts by the U.S. Space Force to build missile defense prototypes, including prototypes of space-based interceptors and related systems, and the fire control stations to coordinate the signals from satellites and help interceptors launch and find their targets.
A Reuters report stated that the largest prize pool of $340 million would be split among companies that complete an on-orbit test, with first place receiving $125 million and fifth place receiving $40 million, according to a July 2025 Pentagon presentation.
Leaders from Lockheed and Northrop’s peer companies, such as LMI and QinetiQ US, will speak at Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 GovCon Executive Leadership Summit on Feb. 26. Hear executives discuss their contributions to the Golden Dome initiative by joining the event today.
Integrating Cyber, Electronic Warfare and Other Technologies
The Missile Defense Agency awarded several indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts under the 10-year Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD, vehicle, which is valued at up to $151 billion.
Work under SHIELD includes research and development, systems engineering, weapons design, data mining, prototyping, experimentation, modernization, cybersecurity, and modeling, simulation and analysis. Selected contractors will also use AI, machine learning, open systems architectures, model-based systems engineering, digital engineering, command and control and other technologies.
Boeing, CGI Federal, General Dynamics Information Technology, HII Mission Technologies, Leidos, Lockheed, Maxar Intelligence, Northrop, Raytheon and Sierra Nevada Corp. are among the awardees of spots in the contract vehicle.
Scaling Manufacturing Capabilities
The industry is expanding existing facilities, building robust supplier networks and investing in advanced manufacturing capabilities to support the Golden Dome initiative.
Lockheed Martin officials said the company has established a new “prototyping environment” for “collaborative” development of command and control systems for Golden Dome. The prototyping hub is located at Lockheed’s Center for Innovation in Suffolk, Virginia, also known as the Lighthouse, according to a report from Breaking Defense.
L3Harris is scaling its Aerojet Rocketdyne business, including new solid rocket motor production facilities that the company is building in Arkansas and Virginia. The company also expanded its satellite integration and test facility in Palm Bay, Florida, to support the development of on-orbit technology for Golden Dome.
Strengthening Space-Based Defense
The U.S. Space Force’s Program Executive Office Space Combat Power in June 2025 sent out a request for information to industry “to identify existing space-based missile defense capabilities and strategize on an architecture of a proliferated [space-based interceptor] constellation capable of boost-phase, mid-course-phase and glide-phase intercepts.”
According to National Defense Magazine, the solicitation sought industry feedback on four areas: exoatmospheric interceptors designed to destroy targets in the boost and mid-course phases outside the Earth’s atmosphere; endoatmospheric systems designed to destroy targets within the Earth’s atmosphere; a common ground element to serve as the central command-and-control hub for generating and sending commands to the space-based interceptor constellation; and a fire control element to perform weapons-target pairing, fire control commanding and in-flight target updates.
In alignment with the Space Force’s requirement, Lockheed Martin Space aims to support the government’s objective to conduct an on-orbit demonstration of space-based interceptors by 2028. L3Harris is supporting the production of space-based missile warning and defense technologies, precision fire-control sensing, targets and propulsion and control systems for interceptors. Meanwhile, Northrop has begun conducting ground tests of space-based interceptors.
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