Space Force general to oversee U.S. 'Golden Dome' missile shield
July 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate has approved Gen. Mike Guetlein to oversee President Donald Trump's national missile defense system, known as the Golden Dome.
The Pentagon announced Tuesday that Guetlein had cleared the final hurdle to leading the Office of Golden Dome for America, which will work with industry, higher education, national labs and other government agencies to develop the high-tech missile shield.
The Golden Dome is similar to Israel's "Iron Dome" and is intended to modernize the United States' defenses from threats from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. The missile shield will be designed for ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and other large-scale attacks.
Guetlein is currently a Space Force general who serves as vice chief of space operations for the military service branch.
Testifying to Congress in March, Guetlein compared the complexity of developing the Golden Dome to that of the Manhattan Project, a World War II-era initiative that produced the world's first nuclear weapons.
"It is not complex because of technology; it is complex because of the number of organizations and agencies that need to be involved," he told a Senate Senate Armed Services subcommittee.
Building the Golden Dome will require cooperation between multiple government agencies, as well as private industry, he said. Guetlein described differences in organizational behavior and culture as the project's biggest challenges, which he said can be overcome by having an empowered and well-resourced agency in charge that has the support of policymakers.
The Golden Dome project is expected to cost $175 billion and Trump has previously said it will be "fully operational" by the end of his term.
The GOP-backed major tax and spending bill recently signed by Trump includes nearly $25 billion for the Golden Dome. Defense contractors are optimistic it will boost profits.
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin on Tuesday reported $18.2 billion in second-quarter sales and predicted more growth as the Golden Dome Project progresses.
Speaking during an earnings call Tuesday, Jim Taiclet, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, said the company has already developed missile defense systems that "are the exact solutions needed to make Golden Dome for America a reality."
Taiclet added that the company's exact role in the Golden Dome project remains to be seen because "the plan on the government side isn't laid out yet."
Chris Calio, chairman and CEO of RTX Corp., also expressed optimism that the project would bolster the company's bottom line during an earnings call Tuesday, saying it "is really well aligned with our core capabilities and product portfolio."
The effectiveness of Israel's Iron Dome has been on display after it successfully shielded the country from hundreds of missiles launched by Iran.
Trump administration officials say the Golden Dome will fulfill former President Ronald Reagan's vision of a "Star Wars" system that was never completed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said that technology has now advanced enough to build the expansive missile shield envisioned by Reagan.
The United States has missile defense systems in place already, but they would not be able to defend against a large-scale attack from Russia, China, Iran or North Korea.
Patrycja Bazylczyk, program manager and research associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Missile Defense Project, previously told UPI that the Golden Dome project could reorient the United States' defense for an era of "great power competition."
"Our adversaries China and Russia have next-generation weapons that can threaten the U.S. homeland," Bazylczyk said. "We need to prime our defenses to defend against these next generation threats."
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