One of the first orders from Donald Trump after his inauguration was a demand to develop a concept for a national missile defense system within 60 days, which is essentially a striking space system for total battlefield dominance.
The officially announced name of the entire program and the order from January 27 is The Iron Dome for America. However, the program has now been officially renamed The Golden Dome for America. This change has been noted by several American publications since initially, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hagset referred to the program as "Golden Dome or Iron Dome," and later, the renaming was found in official documentation.
Specifically, in a request for information from the U.S. government regarding the potential involvement of defense companies in developing this system, it was stated that the Department of Defense changed the program's name to The Golden Dome for America. The reasons for this decision have not been officially commented on.
On one hand, the name Iron Dome immediately caused confusion regarding the entire program, as it has nothing to do with the Israeli missile defense system. Even though the U.S. purchased it from Israel and will even manufacture missiles for it for its new MRIC air defense system for the Marine Corps.
Trump's "Iron Dome" refers to the new "Star Wars" of Reagan, but now with Elon Musk. However, the name "Iron Dome" is so well-known and widely recognized that it is exclusively associated with the Israeli development.
The second reason was pointed out by the American publication Defense News. The name Iron Dome is a trademark registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It belongs to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the developer and manufacturer of the "Iron Dome" itself.
This means that at the time the idea for the new defense program was being developed, which clearly took place long before Trump's inauguration, no one considered this issue. Moreover, and this is even more crucial, when the draft order was being developed, none of the current officials in the White House paid effective attention to this.
From the perspective of Defense Express, it should be noted that the name The Golden Dome for America could also work against Donald Trump. Indeed, we are talking about the largest strategic defense program in recent decades, for which funding in the tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars needs to be secured initially.