The Golden Dome Is a Generational Investment Opportunity

When President Trump reassumed office in January, he immediately issued a dizzying flurry of executive orders that shifted the government’s focus to his highest priorities.

Among those was the establishment of an “Iron Dome for America” to shield the United States from missile attacks — similar to the way the Iron Dome defends Israel from airborne threats.

The initiative has since been renamed and is now being called the “Golden Dome.” But the name won’t be the thing differentiating the U.S. missile shield from its Israeli counterpart.

The continental United States is many times the size of Israel. And our chief adversaries are world powers with advanced missile technology and nuclear capabilities, as opposed to militants and terrorist groups based in neighboring countries. 

That means the Golden Dome will have to be broader in scale. It will also have to have advanced, multi-layer capabilities to detect, track, and intercept threats that include ICBMs and hypersonic missiles.

In short, the Golden Dome is going to be a massive endeavor — one on par with the Manhattan Project or Space Race. It’s going to require planning and execution from every branch of the military and a myriad of defense, technology, and defense technology companies.

It will also require hundreds of billions (if not trillions) of dollars to produce and operate. 

With so much money at stake, proposals are already being drafted by key industry players. 

That’s why today we’re going to talk about what the Golden Dome will look like and what companies will be involved.

Gold Dome vs. Iron Dome

First, as I said, there will be some key differences between the Iron Dome and the Golden Dome.

The Iron Dome was developed in 2006 and deployed in 2011. However, it’s mostly geared toward short-range ballistic threats like rockets, mortars, cruise missiles, and drones.

It uses an advanced radar system to identify and track these threats and a network of missile batteries to intercept them. Each Iron Dome battery consists of multiple launchers, and each launcher holds up to 20 interceptor missiles.

Interestingly, during Trump’s first term, the U.S. purchased two Iron Dome batteries from Israel — the first-ever export of the system — to protect overseas bases.

Again, though, a Golden Dome would be far more complex.

The United States is 490 times larger than Israel. Defending the entire country with Iron Dome-style batteries would require more than 24,000 units, and cost roughly $2.5 trillion.

And while the system might be capable of neutralizing rocket fire from Canada or Mexico, it’d be incapable of defending against advanced aerial threats like ICBMs and hypersonic weapons, or even advanced cruise missiles and drone swarms.

For that, you need a sophisticated web of threat-detection assets, more advanced interceptors, and a sizable team of personnel to manage it all.

Intelligence from ground stations around the world, as well as warships and fighter jets and a sprawling array of satellites, would all have to be gathered, correlated, and ultimately acted upon.

And when it comes to the interceptors involved, you’d need missiles far more advanced than the Tamir and Sky Hunter missiles deployed by the Iron Dome.

A “tiger team” drawn from various defense and military agencies is already putting together multiple proposals for the president’s review, but an effort this complicated could necessitate the establishment of a whole new administrative office.

That is reportedly also in the works, with a list of candidates being drawn up to lead it.

And that’s just to get started.

Short-term, America’s current array of ground-based missile interceptors could be improved or expanded. But more sophisticated components — like satellite constellations — will take years or even decades to develop and deploy.

So what companies are capable of such an ambitious technological endeavor, and how do they fit in?

What Companies Will Be Involved?

Obviously, given the scope, term, and value of the Golden Dome initiative, defense contractors are already lining up to contribute.

That includes Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), RTX Corp. (NYSE: RTX), Boeing (NYSE: BA) and L3Harris (NYSE: LHX), among others.

RTX would be a natural choice, as it’s already a partner on the Iron Dome, producing Sky Hunter missiles.

Booz Allen Hamilton is floating a concept it calls “Brilliant Swarms” — a networked constellation of thousands of AI-enabled satellites to process all the aforementioned data from sensors, early warning systemsm and radar installations.

The company’s website says this network of LEO satellites would autonomously detect, track, and intercept ballistic missiles just minutes after launch, neutralizing the threat before warheads deploy — and with a much higher probability of success.

BAH officials believe they could demonstrate the concept in space against multiple targets in four years' time and reach initial operating capability within 5–7 years.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin is pushing for its own role in the program. That could include anything from command-and-control networks to its F-35 joint strike fighter or its Sentinel A4 radar.

The company was already selected to design and build the next-gen interceptor for Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, which is meant to intercept ICBMs and other long-range ballistic missiles.

Its TPY-6 radar was also used in a successful test intercept of a ballistic missile from Guam late last year. And its PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement has proven effective in Ukraine.

“We are the nation’s leader in integrated air and missile defense and can build the most capable team to help the government make the Golden Dome for America concept a reality,” said Jim Taiclet, Lockheed Martin chairman, president, and CEO. “Our company can rapidly contribute critical pieces of the solution, including satellites that can sense and track missile launches, combat-proven interceptors, next-gen laser weapons, and the command and control systems that link everything together to create a powerful shield over the homeland.” 

Then there’s L3Harris, which has secured over $2 billion in missile-tracking satellite contracts from the Space Force’s Space Development Agency and the Missile Defense Agency. 

The company is also working with ascendant stars in defense tech like Palantir (NASDAQ: PLTR) and Shield AI to incorporate more AI and machine learning solutions.

One such project launched by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) in November aims to prototype a command-and-control system capable of simultaneously operating hundreds or even thousands of autonomous assets. 

L3Harris was selected to provide user interface, develop collaborative autonomy capabilities, and serve as systems integrator for the autonomy architecture.

This is key, because the Golden Dome will require more information sharing and analysis than humans are capable of. 

AI will be needed to streamline operations and curtail costs by reducing manpower, equipment, and maintenance.

All told, it’s a huge ask. 

It’s going to be expensive, time-consuming, and extremely difficult to manage and execute. 

But America’s defense industry is the most advanced and capable in the world — and it’s not even close. 

If anyone can do it, they can. 

And they’re poised to make a boatload of money in the process.