The U.S. Senate confirmed Gen. Guetlein’s appointment on Thursday, unanimously approving him as the inaugural “Direct Reporting Programme Manager” for Golden Dome. In this capacity, he will report directly to Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg.
The Golden Dome initiative, first introduced in January under the Trump administration, aims to develop a layered defence system to protect the continental United States from ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons, and advanced cruise missiles. Central to the concept is a network of space-based interceptors designed to neutralise threats before they reach American airspace—an approach that remains unproven and presents substantial technological challenges.
The project has already secured $24.4 billion in funding, with the newly proposed $13 billion addition included in the House’s Department of Defense Appropriations Act. This would bring the total near-term budget to approximately $37 billion. Early estimates suggest that the full cost of building and deploying the Golden Dome could reach $175 billion, though independent assessments, including those from the Congressional Budget Office, place the potential figure much higher—ranging from $500 billion to as much as $1 trillion over two decades.
Despite strong backing from defence leadership, the programme has faced scrutiny. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a former astronaut and Navy pilot, has expressed concerns about the feasibility of constructing such a system within the proposed three-year timeline. Kelly questioned whether the underlying science supports the project’s rapid development schedule and called for independent technical reviews beyond those provided by defence contractors.
Golden Dome represents one of the largest coordinated defence efforts since the Cold War era, involving multiple military branches, including the Space Force, Army, Navy, and Air Force. The system would integrate a broad array of existing and future technologies, including ground-based radars, satellites, command-and-control networks, and interceptor systems.
Gen. Guetlein, who previously served as Vice Chief of Space Operations, likened the scope of the project to that of the Manhattan Project, underscoring the scale of inter-agency cooperation required. His leadership role will grant him unique budgetary and organisational authority to bypass traditional bureaucracy in order to fast-track key developments.
The 2026 Pentagon budget request includes about $25 billion earmarked for Golden Dome efforts, both to initiate new phases of the programme and to build on work already in progress.
The Golden Dome programme is likely to remain a focal point of debate in Washington as both policymakers and defence experts weigh its projected costs against its strategic value and technical viability.
Source: The Hill.
