Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein (left) and Daniel Karbler (right) talk Golden Dome at the annual Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Ala., on Aug. 11, 2026. (Breaking Defense/Ashley Roque)
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Work on the Golden Dome national air defense shield could come to a grinding halt in October if lawmakers do not figure out a way to continue funding for the presidential initiative, the general in charge of the massive project warned today.
“I will tell you that if they don’t figure it out, there’s no Golden Dome because there is no funding,” Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein told an audience at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium today in Huntsville, Ala.
“Without continued funding, Golden Dome will stop with everything we’ve already built and delivered,” he later told reporters.
Guetlein’s comments come as lawmakers are preparing for the upcoming midterm elections and grappling with just how to fund the Defense Department in fiscal 2027, which kicks off on Oct. 1. Part of that challenge revolves around the White House’s strategic gamble when it asked for $1.5 trillion for the department in FY27 by splitting it into two pots — $1.15 trillion in the base budget request and an additional $350 billion in a reconciliation request.
