Golden Dome will defend the homeland by 2028 by networking existing systems, if Congress funds it.
Golden Dome amalgamates existing systems, not new inventionsHoeven lists Patriot and THAAD batteries, ABMs, hypersonics and PARCS radars pulled into one layered system; Gutlein says the technology already exists and only needs integrating and networking.
Twelve months from concept to live intercept testProgram office stood up July of last year, funded in March, about 70 people, 90% of $22.5 billion obligated, and a test that downed every target in 34 minutes — with fielding targeted for summer 2028.
Funding, not technology, is the binding constraintThe $890 billion baseline covers only about $400 million of Golden Dome's $17 billion need, leaving a supplemental or Reconciliation 3 as the path Hoeven and Cramer are working.
Executive SummaryAI
Robbie Loff opens the first "Carry a Big Stick" forum at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, a world-class institution in a town of 120 people in a county of 800, with about half the crowd first-time Medora visitors.
Senator Kevin Cramer explains he wanted a national security forum in North Dakota and chose Roosevelt's "peace through strength" legacy, introducing Senator John Hoeven, Golden Dome director General Gutlein, and moderator Sarah Manero of CSIS.
General Gutlein says Congress gave Golden Dome $22.5 billion under reconciliation, that he has been running only twelve months with money since March, and that roughly 90% is already obligated on radars, interceptors, space-based interceptors and sites.
He reports a live test three or four weeks ago in which everything put in the air was shot down in 34 minutes, and commits to defense of the homeland, Alaska, Hawaii and the territories in the summer of 2028.
Senator Hoeven lays out the funding gap: an $890 billion defense baseline carried by a continuing resolution to December 11th gives Golden Dome about $400 million against the $17 billion needed, so the rest must come from a supplemental or a third reconciliation package.
Key Quote
“Defending our territory on our own turf is really not in our realm of capability today.”
— General Gutlein
Key Quote
“We cannot protect this nation and bankrupt it at the same time.”