On January 27, 2025, Executive Order 14186 directed the Pentagon to build an "Iron Dome for America" — rebranded Golden Dome — a layered shield against ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles. Congress backed it with $24.4 billion in the FY2025 reconciliation law and another roughly $13.4 billion in FY2026 appropriations, against a total architecture the Pentagon has priced as high as $175-185 billion through the mid-2030s. The Space Force has already put real money behind it: 20 space-based-interceptor contracts worth a combined $3.2 billion, spread across a dozen firms, with Tranche 3 sensor awards moving in parallel. The mechanism that matters for investors isn't which company gets to call itself "lead integrator" — that role is genuinely contested among Lockheed, RTX, and Northrop, and could still fracture into a multi-prime structure. It's that the shield needs the same physical components — tracking sensors, seekers, and interceptor propulsion — regardless of who wins that fight, and only a handful of firms make them.
Who cashes in: