During his first month in office, President Donald Trump issued guidance to the Pentagon: Develop an interconnected missile defense shield over the United States. Eventually dubbed Golden Dome, the effort has billions in funding planned and includes everything from counter-drone systems for the border to space-based interceptors hovering over the globe.
At least, that’s true on paper. In reality, there are a lot of questions about what Golden Dome will actually look like, what systems will be involved, how much it will cost, and when — or even if — what Trump described will be ready.
Breaking Defense’s Aaron Mehta sat down with Tom Karako, a missile defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and John Plumb, a former top DoD space official, to talk about what Golden Dome is and what it might be. In this first of three videos, they lay out what you need to know about this new national defense priority.