Iron Dome for America – Contractor Implications

President Trump recently issued an Executive Order (EO) for the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop the next-generation missile defense shield, referred to as the Iron Dome for America.

Referencing the Iron Dome – the mobile anti-rocket, anti-mortar and anti-artillery air defense system developed by Israel with U.S. backing – Trump has given the DOD two months to develop a plan and budget on how to build a missile defense system for the U.S.

Next-Gen Missile Defense Shield – Architecture, Deployment Capacity and Budget

The EO requires DOD to develop within 60 days a reference architecture, capabilities-based requirements, and an implementation plan to develop and deploy the next-generation missile defense shield. The reference architecture is to include:

• Defense against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks
• Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor layer
• Proliferated space-based interceptors capable of boost-phase intercept
• Underlayer and terminal-phase intercept capabilities postured to defeat a countervalue attack
• Custody layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture
• Capabilities to defeat missile attacks prior to launch and in the boost phase
• Secure supply chain for all components with next-generation security and resilience features
• Non-kinetic capabilities to augment the kinetic defeat of ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks

In parallel with the development of this reference architecture, the DOD is also to:

• Review their authorities and organizational capacities to develop and deploy capabilities at the necessary speed to implement this directive
• Develop a fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget plan to fund this effort
• Update their assessment of the strategic missile threat
• Prioritize a set of locations to progressively defend against a countervalue attack by nuclear adversaries

Following the submission of the next-generation missile defense reference architecture, the DOD is to:

• Review the U.S. theater missile defense postures to identify ways for U.S. and its allies to increase cooperation on missile defense technology development/operations, improve defense of forward-deployed troops and increase/accelerate provision of U.S. missile defense capabilities to allies and partners.

Contractor Implications

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has issued a request for information (RFI) asking industry for help in identifying innovative missile defense technologies to support the effort. An Industry Day is anticipated on February 18 and 19 and the RFI response date is February 28, so there is no time to lose for companies interested in shaping the potential direction of this endeavor.

Funding for the effort is another area to watch. The impact on DOD’s FY 2026 budget will take weeks, or more likely months, to come into view, as the Trump DOD seeks to put their priorities into place. However, there may be some impacts to the current FY 2025 budget, as the White House and Congress work out appropriations for the remainder of this fiscal year after the current continuing resolution (CR) expires on March 14. Congress could provide dedicated funding and/or we could see some reprogramming of DOD funding to support the initiative.

As the effort moves forward, and if Congress supports it with funding, the DOD will be looking to defense industrial base (DIB) partners to provide a wealth of technologies and capabilities, including long-term support. The initiative will require innovation in hypersonics, kinetic weapons, interceptors, and other defense capabilities to integrate the system into the overall U.S. defense posture.

Given the speed at which the White House wants to move, stay tuned to GovWin IQ to stay on top of this opportunity.