The House Armed Services Committee’s draft NDAA would require the Pentagon to provide Congress with answers about how the department intends to realize President Donald Trump’s proposed Golden Dome antimissile shield over America.
The fact that the panel’s fiscal 2026 bill is asking for this information is the latest sign that even the defense oversight committees know little about what Trump’s vision for missile defense might entail. This is the case despite the fact that the reconciliation bill enacted on July 4 appropriates about $25 billion for a variety of antimissile systems, many of which lawmakers said they foresee as part of the Golden Dome architecture.
Trump announced the launch of his Golden Dome project in May, but he described it only in broad terms as a way to protect America from missiles launched from anywhere in the world, including by being able to intercept them from U.S. military satellites. Even a less expansive system, if it included space assets, could cost more than $1 trillion, leading experts said.
