The US military has begun urgent development of a next-generation missile defense system, codenamed "Golden Dome," designed to protect US territory from long-range missile threats. This was reported on March 21, 2025, by CNN, citing sources in the Pentagon. According to the publication, the White House has given clear instructions to the defense department to spare no expense on the project, emphasizing its strategic importance in the context of growing tensions in the international arena. The initiative, initiated by President Donald Trump, is seen as a key element of national security, capable of countering ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles that pose a threat to the United States and its allies.

The Golden Dome project is a response to rapid advances in missile technology in Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, which U.S. intelligence estimates are improving their arsenals, including hypersonic systems that can defeat existing air defenses. The White House is pushing to speed up the work, requiring the military and contractors to reduce development and testing time as much as possible. According to CNN, the Trump administration sees the system not only as a defensive shield, but also as a tool to strengthen the United States’ position as a leader in military technology. The Pentagon has already formed a task force of experts from the U.S. Space Force, tasked in the coming weeks with identifying key areas of focus for the project and assessing which current programs could be integrated into the new system.

The focus is on space-based interceptors, which marks a major shift in the US missile defense strategy. Defense Department sources say the Golden Dome is intended to be a multi-layered system capable of intercepting missiles at all stages of flight, from launch to the final section of the trajectory. This will require significant financial investment: preliminary cost estimates exceed tens of billions of dollars, making the project one of the most ambitious in the history of the US defense industry. Trump, speaking to reporters on March 20, called the Golden Dome “America’s impenetrable shield,” emphasizing that it will provide protection against any threats of the XNUMXst century.