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Program has yet to spend much of $25 billion available

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Technical disputes and space-based concerns delay Golden

Dome

progress

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Few contracts awarded, confusion over Greenland's role in

the

initiative

By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - One year after its

launch, U.S. President Donald Trump's Golden Dome

missile-defense initiative has made little visible progress,

bogged down by technical disputes and concerns over space-based

components that have delayed the release of billions of dollars

and stalled one of his most ambitious national security

projects.

The executive order establishing Golden ‌Dome, signed on

January 27, 2025, set an aggressive timetable to field a

comprehensive homeland missile-defense system by 2028. A year

later, however, the program has yet to spend much of the $25

billion ​appropriated last summer, as officials continue to

debate fundamental elements of its space-based architecture.

According to two U.S. officials, work to finalize ‍the

architecture of the missile defense shield is still underway,

and large-scale execution of funds has not ⁠begun. The money is

available, the officials ⁠said, and significant amounts could be

released in the coming days once key decisions are made.

"The Golden Dome office continues to meet the goals outlined

in Executive Order," a ‌Pentagon official said in response to

Reuters' questions.

"The implementation plan and associated technologies ​are

dynamic; however, the foundational elements of the architecture

are now established. The specifics of architecture are

classified."

WEAPONS IN SPACE DEBATE

Golden Dome envisions expanding existing ground-based

defenses such as interceptor missiles, sensors and

command-and-control systems while adding more experimental

space-based ⁠elements meant to detect, track and potentially

counter incoming threats from orbit. ‍These would include

advanced ​satellite networks and still-debated on-orbit weaponry.

One source of delay has been internal debate over classified

space-based equipment, one of the officials said. A defense

industry executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the

systems under discussion likely involve communications

standards. Another ‍executive said they could be anti-satellite

capabilities, raising questions about how such weapons would

align with a defensive missile shield.

The U.S. has historically opposed anti-satellite weapons

over concerns about space debris, and criticized China in 2007

for conducting an anti-satellite missile test.

The space-based architecture remains one of the issues that

must be decided before General Michael Guetlein, the program's

director, can move forward with what is anticipated to be a

series of procurement contracts for existing weaponry, the first

U.S. official and industry executives said.

ONLY A SMALL HANDFUL OF CONTRACTS AWARDED

The Space Force ​awarded about ‍a half dozen small-value

Golden Dome contracts in November to build competing missile

defense prototypes, including awards to Northrop Grumman ( NOC )

, True Anomaly, Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) and Anduril,

sources previously told Reuters. Those contracts, valued around

$120,000 each, represent the first tangible steps ​in a program

Trump has said will eventually cost $175 billion.

Since December, there has been at least one classified

briefing for defense companies on the architecture, the U.S.

officials said.

Tom Karako, a weapons security expert at the

Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies,

said much of the past year had been consumed by security

reviews, staffing decisions and the approval of complex plans.

He said the Golden Dome project was unlikely to be fully

completed by 2028.

"There is a lot that can be done in the next three years in

terms of better integrating what we already have, but there's no

question that there will be ​things that will be implemented and

evolve after 2028."

Another unresolved issue surrounding Golden Dome is the role

Greenland could play.

Trump has recently linked U.S. control of the Danish

territory to the missile defense initiative, repeatedly saying

that acquiring Greenland is "vital" to the project. Defense

experts note, however, that existing agreements already allow

expanded U.S. military operations on the island. ‍One U.S.

official said Greenland is not part of Golden Dome's proposed

architecture.