When Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office in 2025, his presidency wasted no time reviving one of the most ambitious and controversial military initiatives in US history. Within weeks of inauguration, Trump signed an executive order launching the “Golden Dome,” a sweeping missile defense shield designed to protect the United States from ballistic and hypersonic threats through a complex web of land, sea, air, and – most significantly – space-based systems.

Branded as a bold leap into the future of defense, the Golden Dome initiative has been hailed by Trump as the realization of President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative, once derided as “Star Wars.” Reagan’s vision, though technologically unfeasible at the time, laid the philosophical groundwork for a space-based shield against enemy projectiles. Now, Trump argues, the dream is finally achievable, thanks to decades of advancements in sensor arrays, satellite-based tracking systems, and missile interceptor technologies.

At a press conference flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and US Space Force Vice Chair Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, Trump declared the Golden Dome “the crown jewel of American defense.” He claimed the system would be operational by the end of his term in 2029, with layered defense capabilities capable of intercepting missiles from across the globe or launched from space itself.

The architecture of the Golden Dome will integrate a multi-domain system – land-based radars, naval interceptors, airborne command modules, and satellite constellations – forming what officials describe as an “omni-directional shield.” Trump’s vision also includes strategic collaboration with Canada, seen as critical in covering the vast northern approach to the US mainland, particularly in light of Russian and Chinese missile developments.

Yet as ambitious and technically seductive as this initiative sounds, the Golden Dome has triggered alarms across the geopolitical spectrum. Critics from scientists and legal scholars to diplomats and arms control........

© Blitz