President Donald Trump's promised "Golden Dome" missile-defense system, modeled on Israel's Iron Dome program, took a step forward with the enactment of his signature tax and spending bill July 4.
The law includes $24.4 billion for integrated air and missile defense, which is earmarked for the Golden Dome project.
As a presidential candidate in 2023, Trump promised "to build a state-of-the-art, next-generation missile defense shield." On Jan. 27, Trump signed an executive order that set the plan in motion, and on May 20, he unveiled a design that includes a constellation of thousands of small satellites that could attack a missile shortly after it launches from a submarine or silo, which experts say is the most feasible time to shoot it down.
Trump said the project could be completed for $175 billion, so the nearly $25 billion in the new law gets the project a fraction of the way to being financed, with planning and construction expected to take years.
We continue to rate the promise In the Works.