- President Trump wants the U.S. to have a Golden Dome missile defense system
- But it will require spectrum for the Department of Defense to operate
- There's a chance that spectrum could be the lower 3 GHz, which the wireless industry really wants
This week, the U.S. House and Senate Armed Services Committee released a $150 billion proposed defense spending plan, which includes a whopping $24.7 billion for their Golden Dome initiative.
As a telecom reader, you may be asking yourself: What is the Golden Dome? And what does it have to do with telecom?
In answer to the first question: The Golden Dome is the idea of creating a missile defense system over the United States to protect the country from incoming attacks. Apparently, the idea was top-of-mind for President Trump because he issued an executive order about it on January 27, just a week after his inauguration.
The executive order, entitled “The Iron Dome for America,” copies the concept from Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense shield, which it deployed in 2011. The Iron Dome uses radar and interceptor missiles to track and neutralize threats in mid-air.
Since January, Trump has changed the initiative’s name to the "Golden Dome.” Why? Probably because he really likes gold.
In terms of the proposed $24.7 billion for the Golden Dome, the Department of Defense (DoD) this week laid out all the line items, including $2 billion for air-moving-target-indicator military satellites; $7.2 billion for the development of military space-based sensors; $1.9 billion for improved ground-based missile defense radars; etc.
What does the Golden Dome mean for telecom?
There are a lot of legislative hurdles to jump before the Golden Dome would be funded by taxpayer dollars. But if it were to proceed, Fierce Network wondered how the Golden Dome might affect telecom.
The short answer is: the Golden Dome initiative will require spectrum, which will be necessary for satellites and ground equipment to intercept and thwart missiles. And the spectrum that the DoD needs may be in the coveted lower 3 GHz range.
For decades there has been tension between the DoD and commercial interests over the allocation of U.S. spectrum. The DoD has control of a lot of the nation’s spectrum, harking back to the days when spectrum was plentiful and there wasn’t much commercial demand. But of course, there’s huge commercial demand these days since everyone uses mobile phones and critical wireless applications such as GPS.
During the Biden presidency, the conflict between the wireless industry and the DoD heated up further because wireless operators would like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to push the DoD out of mid-band spectrum in the lower 3 GHz and auction it off for commercial use.
Then, Congress actually allowed the FCC’s auction authority to lapse for the first time in 30 years, and there’s been widespread speculation that the lapse of auction authority stems from the dispute between commercial interests and DoD interests in the spectrum.
Blair Levin, policy analyst with New Street Research, said, “Allies of the Defense Department did not want the FCC to have authority, which they thought could lead to another taking of spectrum. And until that issue is resolved, people supporting the Defense Department will not give the FCC authority.”
Gold Dome details are military secrets but likely need spectrum
Now, enter the Golden Dome.
Levin noted that plans for the Golden Dome are very new, and its details are military secrets. But he said it’s possible the Golden Dome would need spectrum in the lower 3 GHz. He pointed to a phrase in Trump’s executive order that says the Golden Dome architecture would include “Deployment of underlayer and terminal-phase intercept capabilities postured to defeat a countervalue attack.” Levin interprets that to mean terrestrial spectrum will be needed for the project, likely in the lower 3 GHz.
Levin said the DoD is “going to both try to achieve what Trump wishes to do, as well as achieve their own internal goal of continuing control over spectrum.”
Fierce asked if it was a lost-cause for the wireless industry, then, to ever get more spectrum in the lower 3 GHz.
Levin said he thinks the current FCC will be able to find some kind of resolution between the wireless industry and the DoD.
“Here's a way of thinking about it,” he said. “Can everybody end up with something that is acceptable? Can the commercial wireless guys get some spectrum, not everything they want? Can the defense guys get what they need to do something like the Golden Dome? Yeah, I think it's a resolvable thing.”