New Details Emerge About Golden Dome’s Four-Layer Missile Defense Shield

The “Hemispheric Defense” theme is gaining momentum with new details emerging that the Golden Dome missile defense system will comprise of four layers: one space-based and three ground-based, including 11 short-range batteries positioned across the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii. 

Reuters cited a U.S. government slide presentation on the project, titled “Go Fast, Think Big!”, which was presented to 3,000 defense contractors in Huntsville, Alabama, last week. Think of the Golden Dome as Israel’s Iron Dome on serious steroids, given its complexity and scale. 

According to the slides, the Golden Dome’s missile defense shield architecture calls for:

• Space layer: satellites for missile warning, tracking, and boost-phase interception.

• Upper layer: Next Generation Interceptors (NGI), THAAD, and Aegis systems — with a new missile field likely in the Midwest.

• Under layer: Patriot systems, new radars, and a common launcher for current and future interceptors.

Reuters noted:

One surprise was a new large missile field – seemingly in the Midwest according to a map contained in the presentation – for Next Generation Interceptors (NGI) which are made by Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab and would be a part of the “upper layer” alongside Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Aegis systems which Lockheed also makes.

NGI is the modernized missile for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) network of radars, interceptors and other equipment – currently the primary missile defense shield to protect the United States from intercontinental ballistic missiles from rogue states.

The U.S. operates GMD launch sites in southern California and Alaska. This plan would add a third site in the Midwest to counter additional threats.

The Pentagon pointed out challenges such as communication latency across the kill chain (a step-by-step sequence of actions needed to find, target, and destroy a threat). Major defense contractors on the project include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, and Boeing; SpaceX was absent from the latest plans. 

In recent months, Goldman analyst Noah Poponak identified for clients a clear investment opportunity tied to deploying Golden Dome shields across the Homeland to shoot down hypersonic missile threats.

Poponak said: “We are Buy-rated on L3Harris because management expects its organic revenue growth rate to accelerate in 2026, margins to continue expanding, and strong free cash flow growth going forward.”

Latest coverage on the hemispheric defense theme:

Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein is the program lead and must deliver the first designs within 60 days and a complete roadmap of the project within 120 days. The dome’s goal is to intercept missiles in their boost phase and deploy relocatable defenses capable of rapid global deployment. This comes amid an emerging and dangerous bipolar world that will only worsen in the 2030s. Prepare now.