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U.S. President Donald Trump claims to have accomplished more than any of his predecessors in less than a year. But one of the biggest proposals of Trump 2.0—the Golden Dome missile defense system—remains little more than a concept nearly 12 months after it was first unveiled. Although Trump has said that Golden Dome will be completed before the end of his second term, that’s looking increasingly unlikely. He has even tied in his pursuit of Greenland to the initiative, saying in his speech in Davos, Switzerland, this week that the Danish territory is the “land on which we’re going to build the greatest Golden Dome ever built.”

There are many open questions as to whether such a system is truly worth the cost, both in terms of the funds it will take to build and maintain—with some estimates placing the cost as high as trillions of dollars—and its potential to fuel a new arms race. While some experts agree that current U.S. missile defense capabilities are subject to vulnerabilities that could be exploited, they also have doubts about whether Golden Dome is truly the solution.

U.S. President Donald Trump claims to have accomplished more than any of his predecessors in less than a year. But one of the biggest proposals of Trump 2.0—the Golden Dome missile defense system—remains little more than a concept nearly 12 months after it was first unveiled. Although Trump has said that Golden Dome will be completed before the end of his second term, that’s looking increasingly unlikely. He has even tied in his pursuit of Greenland to the initiative, saying in his speech in Davos, Switzerland, this week that the Danish territory is the “land on which we’re going to build the greatest Golden Dome ever built.”

There are many open questions as to whether such a system is truly worth the cost, both in terms of the funds it will take to build and maintain—with some estimates placing the cost as high as trillions of dollars—and its potential to fuel a new arms race. While some experts agree that current U.S. missile defense capabilities are subject to vulnerabilities that could be exploited, they also have doubts about whether Golden Dome is truly the solution.

Currently, the United States has several missile defense systems, including the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, designed to protect the U.S. homeland from intermediate- and long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles in the midcourse phase of flight; the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, which is ground- and sea-based for defense against short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles in the midcourse phase of flight; and the rapidly deployable and mobile Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, designed to guard against short- to medium-range ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of flight.

But some experts warn that newer technologies, such as hypersonic missiles, drones, and advanced cruise missiles, have introduced dangerous gaps in U.S. defenses at a time when top adversaries—think Russia, China, and North Korea—are expanding and modernizing their arsenals.

The U.S. Defense Department is working to address these vulnerabilities with small, more targeted initiatives. But Trump wants a far bolder, more comprehensive solution. The president has said that Golden Dome will end the missile threat to the U.S. homeland “forever.”

Here’s what you need to know about Golden Dome, including its purpose, expected capabilities, potential cost, development timeline, and possible risks.

Golden Dome would be a multilayered missile defense system capable of thwarting a wide range of aerial threats, but it would focus on destroying long-range missiles. In many ways, it is about weaponizing space for the sake of defense but would also involve ground-, sea-, and air-based layers.

One might characterize Golden Dome as a modernized, more expansive version of the Strategic Defense Initiative—nicknamed “Star Wars”—proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984. That said, it’s worth noting that that project never became operational.

The Trump administration has described Golden Dome as a “next-generation missile defense shield.” And U.S. Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, who is leading the initiative, compared it to being “on the magnitude of the Manhattan Project.” But the project’s scale may be even bigger.

Golden Dome is meant to shield against basically........

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