OPINION:
The Trump administration’s Golden Dome, a multilayer missile defense system designed to thwart a mass missile attack on the U.S., will need more than money and time to work. It is going to need power and lots of it.
The missile shield’s looming power needs were in the spotlight Tuesday at a Defense Department energy expo at the Pentagon. The three-day event featured more than 100 “energy innovation” exhibits, military officials said.
Across Washington, the debate has largely focused on the system’s cost, how quickly it can realistically become operational and whether the cutting-edge technologies expected to make up the system will be reliable in the long term.
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Still, the Golden Dome missile shield will require massive amounts of electricity to operate. The system is expected to include directed-energy weapons and an artificial-intelligence-powered command-and-control system of virtually unprecedented scale. Officials said reliable power must be in place.
“We’re delivering the energy backbone for Golden Dome. We’re rapidly innovating to reduce integration risks for high-power weapon systems and advanced sensors,” said Dale R. Marks, assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and environment, during remarks at the energy expo. “And if we want to deploy directed energy, high-energy microwave and advanced radar systems, we must solve the energy equation.”
“Energy is the lifeblood of the entire Golden Dome kill chain,” he said. “It goes from space-based early warning sensors to ground-based radar and kinetic and nonkinetic interceptors.”
Mr. Marks described directed-energy weapons as potentially far cheaper than traditional weapons but also exceedingly “power hungry.” Consequently, the Pentagon needs affordable, reliable energy infrastructure to ensure the Golden Dome and its components function even if an adversary targets traditional American power grids.
Questions about the Golden Dome’s energy appetite have arisen against the backdrop of a broader national debate about the massive energy required to power today’s advanced AI models and the sprawling data centers that accompany their use.
The Trump administration estimates that the Golden Dome will cost $185 billion through 2035, but it is unclear whether existing price estimates account for the massive energy costs expected to run the system.
No comprehensive estimate exists for the power required to operate the entire Golden Dome system.
Mr. Marks pointed to two major projects expected to deliver the needed energy for the project: the Army’s Tactical Microgrid Standard and the Navy’s Common Operational Resilience and Energy Storage.
The Army project aims to enable the “seamless integration of diverse power sources, including renewable energy, generators and storage systems, into a cohesive network” that can function as a self-sustaining power infrastructure, according to a description on the Army’s Small Business Innovation Research website.
The Navy project focuses on scaling backup power systems that can stay online even during disruptions to the civilian power grid, which most U.S. military installations still rely on.
The Trump administration argues that the Golden Dome is necessary because Russia, China and other actors are making huge investments in their ballistic and hypersonic weapons programs. The U.S. currently lacks a full missile shield protecting the entire country. Fears are growing that adversaries could exploit those defensive gaps as their missile technology improves.
The specific architecture of the Golden Dome is classified, and its funding has been a continuous point of contention between lawmakers and the Pentagon. Space-based missile interceptors are crucial components of the planned system, but are also widely expected to be the most expensive pieces of the Golden Dome.
A May report from the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the missile shield could cost as much as $1.2 trillion over 20 years, though the agency described its projection as “one illustrative approach rather than an estimate of a specific Administration proposal.” The White House initially estimated that the entire Golden Dome project would cost $175 billion over three years, but Pentagon officials and the fiscal year 2027 budget request have since cited a figure of $185 billion through 2035.
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