Golden Dome

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

The stand-up and operation of a notional Golden Dome missile defense architecture would cost about $1.2 trillion over the next 20 years, the Congressional Budget Office says in a new report.

Rocket Lab has already booked more launches in the first three months of 2026 than in all of 2025, company CEO Peter Beck announced in a May 7 earnings call.

Anduril Industries has gathered five industry partners to support its work on the U.S. Space Force’s space-based interceptor program, the company says.

Firefly Aerospace has made progress building and testing the major flight components of the future Eclipse medium-lift launch vehicle, CEO Jason Kim says.

Readers write about space-based interceptors, parallel approaches at San Francisco Airport, and coverage of Artemis II. Plus: Behind the scenes at MRO Americas.

U.S. Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein now refers conditionally to the prospect of fielding a space-based layer of interceptors.

Space technology company True Anomaly has raised $650 million in a recent Series D fundraising round.

The U.S. Space Force has identified the 12 companies currently on contract to develop space-based interceptors ahead of a planned 2028 demonstration.

The Trump administration has unveiled a $1.5 trillion defense spending proposal for fiscal 2027, marking a substantial long-term increase in military funding.

The U.S. Space Force is set to double its R&D funding, with a focus on missile warning satellites, classified programs and advanced space technologies.

The Trump administration wants to fund the U.S. Space Force’s request for a larger budget in fiscal 2027, and then some.

Aviation Week editors discuss the increase in projected Golden Dome costs and what the fiscal 2027 Pentagon budget request may tell us about the umbrella program.

The record-high defense top line is intended to grow aircraft fleets, increase munition buys and bolster missile defenses.

The U.S. homeland will face a dramatic rise in long-range missile threats over the next 10 years.

European defense companies see a pot of gold under missile defense dome developments.

The director of Golden Dome argues that cost estimates predicting huge increases to the program's price tag are fundamentally flawed.

As high-energy lasers become weapons for countering small drones, the technology is on its way to demonstrating the potential to shoot down strategic threats.

Anduril is expanding its space domain awareness portfolio with plans to acquire commercial provider ExoAnalytic Solutions.

Voyager Technologies has lifted its full-year sales outlook largely on the strength of its defense business.

Boost-phase missile defense challenges the historic model for space-based interceptors, but a startup is proposing a possible thrust-based solution.

Air Force Global Strike Command conducted its latest test of an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM on March 4.

Lockheed Martin plans to demonstrate a number of on-orbit capabilities related to missile defense over the next three year, a company executive said Feb. 23.

The Pentagon has called for a new generation of sensor and tracker systems to guide a future constellation of space-based interceptors into incoming missiles.

The DOD is following a strict schedule to deploy an initial Golden Dome for America capability in just more than two years and an expanded architecture by 2035.