President Trump recently unveiled a bold new national security initiative to build the Golden Dome, a next-generation missile defense shield to protect the American homeland from every vector of missile attack. That announcement came just days after the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) released a chilling report on the accelerating global missile threat. Its conclusion was clear: America faces the most dangerous missile environment in history, and we are dangerously unprepared.
Unsurprisingly, America’s adversaries wasted no time condemning the Golden Dome initiative. The Chinese Communist Party accused the United States of “militarizing space” — a laughable charge from a government aggressively expanding its space weapons program. “The project will heighten the risk of turning the space into a war zone and creating a space arms race, and shake the international security and arms control system,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said in a press briefing on May 21.
Russia and North Korea joined the chorus of authoritarian outrage, warning of an arms race while they invest heavily in hypersonics, inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and anti-satellite capabilities. This predictable backlash should be seen for what it is: proof that our enemies fear the strategic edge Golden Dome would give us and are desperate to stop it before it starts.
Around the world, U.S. adversaries are rapidly expanding their missile arsenals and upgrading their capabilities not just to deter U.S. power, but to threaten it directly. New missile systems are global, integrated, and designed to strike deep into the American heartland. Our enemies’ systems aren’t built for deterrence but for coercion and blackmail.
China is leading the pack. According to the DIA, by 2035 Beijing could field 700 ICBMs, up from just 400 today. China plans to grow its cruise missile stockpile fivefold to 5,000 low-flying, radar-evading land-attack cruise missiles. Perhaps most concerning, the People’s Liberation Army is on track to expand its hypersonic missile arsenal from 600 to 4,000 weapons, each designed to defeat existing U.S. missile defenses.
Russia is also modernizing at breakneck speed. Its cruise missile arsenal is expected to grow from 300–600 today to more than 5,000 by 2035. These missiles are nuclear-capable and can bypass radar detection to hit U.S. and allied targets with little to no warning. Russia is also expanding its hypersonic inventory and upgrading its ICBMs to defeat American missile shields.
Iran’s regime, meanwhile, is ready to join the ICBM club in short order. Although it lacks long-range strike capability now, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism may be able to field 60 militarily viable ICBMs by 2035, according to the intelligence report — if the regime’s leaders decide to develop that capability. Tehran is also reportedly exploring fractional orbital bombardment systems to bypass U.S. radars. With the region’s largest ballistic missile arsenal already in hand, Iran continues to grow in accuracy, mobility, and threat to U.S. forces and allies.
North Korea is developing solid-fuel ICBMs that are easier to launch on short notice and much harder to track. It could have as many as 50 ICBMs by 2035, along with submarine-launched ballistic missiles and maneuverable hypersonic weapons, giving Kim Jong Un the power to blackmail the U.S. and its allies like never before.
These threats metastasized under the Biden administration, which sat idle while America’s enemies sprinted ahead. For four years, it chronically underfunded missile defense, slashed resources for the Missile Defense Agency and delayed key programs including space-based sensors, next-generation interceptors, and hypersonic defense systems.
Biden clung to outdated arms control illusions, doubling down on Cold War-era frameworks that neither China nor North Korea have signed and Russia repeatedly violated. At every turn, the administration prioritized appeasement over action.
That’s why President Trump’s Golden Dome initiative is such a critical step forward. This new national missile shield would provide layered defense against cruise missiles, ICBMs, hypersonics, and submarine-launched threats. It would use advanced interceptors and space-based sensors to give America the edge in early warning and rapid response.
These efforts will require significant investments, which Congress should support. Success with missile defense will also require harnessing the power of American ingenuity. The Trump administration should expand public-private partnerships and streamline defense procurement for next-gen propulsion and missile defense technology.
Just this month, a Houston-based startup Venus Aerospace completed the first high-thrust flight test of a rotating detonation rocket engine in U.S. history, a breakthrough that could dramatically lower the cost of fielding hypersonic weapons. Supporting ingenious American startups will be critical to tackle the challenges ahead. We cannot move at the typical snail’s pace when our enemies are ramping up rapidly.
Our enemies are working every day to put our homeland at risk, and if we don’t act now, we will wake up in a world where the United States is not just vulnerable but outgunned. The Golden Dome may be a pricey investment, but a nuclear warhead landing on an American city would be infinitely worse.