![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-1708736725.jpg\")
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Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base, with the domes of the Thule Tracking Station, is pictured in northern Greenland on October 4, 2023.<\/p>\n
Credit:
\n Thomas Traasdahl\/Ritzau Scanpix\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
Trump\u2019s obsession with acquiring Greenland, where the Space Force already has a military base, soured US relations with Denmark over the last year. The White House threatened additional tariffs on Denmark and other European countries until Denmark agreed to sell Greenland to the United States.<\/p>\n
Then, after strong European pushback, Trump suddenly reversed course last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He withdrew threats to take Greenland by force and announced an unspecified \u201cframework\u201d with NATO for a future deal regarding the island. Trump told CNBC the framework involved partnerships on missile defense and mining: \u201cThey\u2019re going to be involved in the Golden Dome, and they\u2019re going to be involved in mineral rights, and so are we.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded to Trump signaling an openness to a \u201cconstructive dialogue\u201d on Arctic security, including the Golden Dome, \u201cprovided that this is done with respect for our territorial integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The White House\u2019s backpedaling may have lowered the temperature of US relations with Denmark, at least for now. But Canada is still in Trump\u2019s crosshairs. In a social media post on Friday, Trump claimed Canada was \u201cagainst\u201d plans to include Greenland in the Golden Dome program. Kirsten Hillman, Canada\u2019s ambassador to the United States, told CBS News she didn\u2019t know what Trump was talking about.<\/p>\n
The back-and-forth followed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s rebuke of Trump\u2019s foreign policy during a speech at Davos last week. In another sign of the withering US-Canada partnership, Trump threatened in a social media post Saturday to impose a 100 percent tariff on Canada if it follows through on a trade deal with China.<\/p>\n
,<\/p>\n
Canadian officials last year disclosed they were in talks to participate in the Golden Dome. In an interview with The War Zone published earlier this month, the operational commander of NORAD\u2019s Canadian region advocated for \u201cintegrated missile defense\u201d and \u201cground-based effectors\u201d but said Canada\u2019s role in a space-based layer would be a \u201cpolitical decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look at it as Continental Shield,\u201d said Royal Canadian Air Force Maj. Gen. Chris McKenna. \u201cGolden Dome is the US brand on it. From our point of view, it\u2019s great air missile defense and what we will put on the table to defend the continent with. And so I think there are ongoing negotiations between our governments with respect to what the specific investments will be.\u201d<\/p>\n
A roadmap to something<\/h2>\n
Guetlein\u2019s comments on Golden Dome last week were part of an \u201cindustry day\u201d hosted by Space Systems Command, the Los Angeles-based unit charged with procurement for most of the Space Force\u2019s major programs. Asked what his top priority is this year, Guetlein said his emphasis is on the shield\u2019s command and control system, the \u201cglue layer\u201d that ties together everything else necessary to make Golden Dome work. His deadline to demonstrate the command-and-control system is this summer.<\/p>\n
The kinetic, or hit-to-kill, elements of the missile shield will come next. \u201cIn the summer of \u201927, I have to integrate the interceptors, and in \u201928 I have to demonstrate operational capability that is fielded against credible threats,\u201d Guetlein said.<\/p>\n
This would bring some version of Golden Dome into service before President Trump leaves the White House, a timetable used for several other programs, including NASA\u2019s Artemis mission to land astronauts on the Moon. Officials are willing to trade perfection for speed. Guetlein\u2019s intention is to \u201crapidly get an 85 percent product in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
,<\/p>\n Gen. Michael Guetlein, overseeing the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system, looks on as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on May 20, 2025, in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n Credit: But a comprehensive missile defense shield, if economically and technically feasible, would take many more years to complete. Some pieces of what could become Golden Dome already exist, such as ground-based midcourse interceptors and an array of missile detection sensors on land, at sea, and in space.<\/p>\n Other elements were well along in development before Trump\u2019s second term in the White House. These include a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites to better track hypersonic missiles and relay data to help US and allied forces shoot them down. This network, led by the Space Development Agency, began launching in 2023 but is not yet operational.<\/p>\n The Pentagon has already kicked off the preliminary steps to buy space-based interceptors. The shield will need hundreds or thousands of orbiting platforms on alert to shoot down a ballistic missile in flight. The Defense Department also aims to field modernized ground-based interceptors and Golden Dome\u2019s command and control network, the system Guetlein identified as his top priority for this year.<\/p>\n Satellites are getting cheaper and easier to build. SpaceX has manufactured and launched approximately 11,000 Starlink satellites in less than seven years. No other company comes close to this number, but there are businesses looking at building standardized satellites that could be integrated with a range of payloads, including Earth-viewing cameras, radars, communication antennas, or perhaps, a missile interceptor.<\/p>\n But the interceptors themselves are brand new. Nothing like them has ever been put into space and tested before. Last year, the Space Force asked companies to submit their ideas for space-based interceptor (SBI) prototypes. The military awarded 18 companies small prototype development deals in November. The Space Force did not identify the winners, and the value of each contract fell below the $9 million public disclosure threshold for Pentagon programs.<\/p>\n ,<\/p>\n These 18 awards are focused on boost-phase SBIs, weapons that can take out a missile soon after it leaves its silo. From a physics perspective, this is one of the most difficult things to ask an interceptor to do, because the weapon must account for atmospheric disturbances and reentry heating to reach its target. In December, the Space Force issued a follow-up request for prototype proposals looking at space-based midcourse interceptors capable of destroying a ballistic missile while it is coasting through space.<\/p>\n The Pentagon has not said how many SBIs it will need for Golden Dome, or what they will look like. Essentially, an orbiting interceptor will be a flying fuel tank with a rocket and a sensor package to home in on its target. But the Space Force and its prospective Golden Dome contractors, which include industry giants Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, have not disclosed the interceptors\u2019 design specs or how many the shield will need.<\/p>\n A Standard Missile 3 Block IIA launches from the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, on December 10, 2018, during a test to intercept an intermediate-range ballistic missile target in space.<\/p>\n Credit: Guetlein said Pentagon leaders have empowered him with \u201cunprecedented authorities\u201d on the Golden Dome program. He said Friday his office has full authority over the program\u2019s technical aspects, along with Golden Dome\u2019s procurement, contracting, hiring, security, and budget.<\/p>\n President Trump directed the military to start the Golden Dome program in an executive order last January and nominated Guetlein to head the effort. The Senate confirmed him for the job in a voice vote last July. After the initial pomp of Golden Dome\u2019s announcement, including multiple Oval Office photo ops, military officials went quiet. Guetlein cited security concerns for the Pentagon\u2019s silence on one of Trump\u2019s marquee defense programs.<\/p>\n \u201cI was confirmed on the 18th of July. On the 19th of July, I popped No. 1 on the intel collect list for our adversaries,\u201d Guetlein said. \u201cOn the 20th of July, they started hacking our defense industrial base, and the Secretary (of Defense) asked us to go silent. So, we have been quiet. I have not been talking to industry consortiums. I have not been talking to the press. I have not been talking to the think tanks. And it wasn\u2019t until September that I was allowed to even start talking to the Hill (Congress).\u201d<\/p>\n ,<\/p>\n Despite this absence of dialogue, lawmakers approved $23 billion in a down payment for Golden Dome last summer. The final cost of the system is anyone\u2019s guess, but the deployment and sustainment of Golden Dome will certainly cost hundreds of billions of dollars over multiple decades. Just getting the missile shield through a partial activation will cost $175 billion over three years, according to the White House.<\/p>\n Guetlein is off and running with the one-time infusion of $23 billion Congress gave him last year. \u201cThe budget authority\u2026 for the first $23 billion, it has no strings, no color, no year,\u201d he said. \u201cI can move that money around at will.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s about to receive another $13.4 billion in this year\u2019s defense budget, pending the appropriation bill\u2019s final passage in the Senate and President Trump\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got the Space Force buying SBIs. I\u2019ve got the Army buying munitions and sensors. I\u2019ve got the Navy buying munitions. I\u2019ve got the Missile Defense Agency buying next-generation interceptors, glide phase interceptors, and a whole host of other capabilities,\u201d Guetlein said.<\/p>\n Despite their willingness to fund Golden Dome, lawmakers still aren\u2019t satisfied with the information they are getting from the Pentagon. In a document adjoining this year\u2019s defense budget bill, members of the House and Senate defense appropriations subcommittees wrote they were \u201cunable to effectively assess resources available\u201d and unable to \u201cconduct oversight\u201d of the Golden Dome program \u201cdue to insufficient budgetary information\u201d provided by the Department of Defense.<\/p>\n The lawmakers wrote that they \u201csupport the operational objectives of Golden Dome\u201d and directed the Pentagon to \u201cprovide a comprehensive spend plan\u201d for the missile shield within 60 days of the budget bill becoming law.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately because of the intel threat, we can only brief you at the classified level on what the architecture is,\u201d Guetlein said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gen. Michael Guetlein, the senior officer in charge of the US military\u2019s planned Golden Dome missile defense shield, has laid out an audacious schedule for deploying a network of space-based sensors and interceptors by the end of President Donald Trump\u2019s term in the White House. The three-year timeline is aggressive, with little margin for error […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2215584013.jpg\")
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\n Jim Watson\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/181210-D-ZZ999-005C-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Mark Wright\/DOD<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n\u201cI can move money around at will\u201d<\/h2>\n