The IRONDOME Act of 2025 would make broad, multi-year changes to U.S. missile defense policy and programs with the goal of expanding and hardening homeland defenses against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons, and related threats. The measure envisions reorganizing how missile defense is planned and operated—moving certain operations and sustainment from the Missile Defense Agency to the military services—while aggressively accelerating development, fielding, and expansion of a wide array of systems and capabilities. Key features include new rapid-fielding processes for drone-based detection networks and space-based sensor systems, a major expansion of interceptor capacity at Fort Greely, Alaska, and a network of additional Aegis Ashore sites (East Coast, Alaska, Hawaii) plus southern-hemisphere radar planning. It also authorizes substantial funding (about $19.55 billion for FY2026) to support these initiatives and numerous other modernization and streamlining efforts, including regulatory waivers for urgent construction and closer defense-technology collaboration with allies. The bill frames missile defense as a core deterrence-by-denial tool and prioritizes next-generation interceptors, space-based capabilities, and rapid acquisition approaches to stay ahead of evolving threats (including hypersonics). It sets ambitious timelines (e.g., 80 NGI interceptors at Fort Greely by 2038) and expands the scope of planning to include combatant commands’ annual budget requests, as well as new reporting and site-planning requirements (e.g., southern hemisphere radar, Alaska and East Coast Aegis Ashore sites). If enacted, IRONDOME would significantly accelerate modernization across the homeland defense architecture and increase the scale and resilience of U.S. missile defense across multiple domains (ground, air, space).
Key Points
- 1Plan to transfer operations and sustainment of missile defense from the Missile Defense Agency to the appropriate military departments, allowing MDA to focus on research, development, prototyping, and testing.
- 2Aggressive acceleration of fielding and prototyping programs, including:
- 3- drone-based missile threat audio-detection networks,
- 4- proliferated warfighter space architecture (satellites) via Space Development Agency,
- 5- expedited development of the Glide Phase Interceptor to counter hypersonic threats,
- 6- accelerated THAAD production and homeland defense deployment, and
- 7- autonomous defense agents to counter cruise missiles and drones.
- 8Major basing and modernization push, including:
- 9- expansion of Fort Greely, Alaska to 80 Next Generation Interceptor units by 2038,
- 10- site planning and execution for East Coast and Alaska Aegis Ashore systems, Hawaii Aegis Ashore completion, and a southern-hemisphere early warning radar system,
- 11- modernization of key terrestrial radars (Cobra Dane, BMEWS, UEWR, PARCS) and related space-domain awareness capabilities,
- 12- accelerated development and deployment of space-based interceptors.
- 13DoD and governance enhancements, including:
- 14- Combatant Commanders must include missile defense interceptor and sensor requirements in their annual budget requests,
- 15- expedited authorities for urgent construction needs (with environmental waiver allowances) for JUON-related missile defense infrastructure,
- 16- expanded technology exchanges with allies for integrated air and missile defense, with safety protections against sensitive or dangerous transfers, and
- 17- supply chain security initiatives to identify and mitigate critical shortages.
- 18Dedicated funding package for FY2026 totaling approximately $19.548 billion, allocated across multiple programs (SM-3 variants, THAAD, PAC-2/3 munitions, NGI, Aegis Ashore sites, Fort Greely expansion, space sensors, radars modernization, directed-energy/missile interception R&D, MDA facilities, dirigibles, and related military construction).