Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently announced the U.S. has carried out the first major test of Golden Dome, which he witnessed, and which centered on the AI-operated DDAD system, or Dynamic Defense Autonomous Defeat.
Hegseth stated on X the DDAD test, which was classified and held at an undisclosed testing range, “dynamically defeated every threat.”
Hegseth and the Pentagon are requesting $17.9 billion in the fiscal year 2027 budget to make the missile defense shield operational, news website Aerospace America reported in April.
“The Golden Dome is a fascinating project, and it's no longer a conceptual design like it was under Ronald Reagan,” said Gordon Klingenschmitt, an Air Force Academy graduate and former U.S. Space Command Missile intelligence officer.
In the 1980s, during the Cold War, the Reagan administration worked on a missile-stopping project called the “Strategic Defense Initiative." It was intended to use satellites in space to intercept nuclear-tipped ICBMs launched from the Soviet Union.
SDI, which was nicknamed “Star Wars” after the movie franchise, reportedly frightened the Soviets but never progressed beyond early testing that proved successful.
Now, a half-century later, the newer threat is modern hypersonic missiles launched at the U.S. from a newer communist threat, China.
In his X post, Hegseth wrote, “President Trump is making President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) vision a reality.”
Klingenschmitt, who has followed the Golden Dome’s development, told AFN he believes the technology is “within reach” so the other issue is a Pentagon budget that moves it forward.
“Depending on the midterm elections, if America votes for a Democrat Congress, they might cut the Pentagon funding even further,” he warned. “So I think President Trump really needs to act this year.”
