Harmonizing Missile Defense and Airspace Management: Interagency Coordination During the Development of Golden Dome and BNATCS

The United States’ Iron Dome for America initiative authorized under Presidential Executive Order 14186, now known as Golden Dome, represents a transformative step toward an integrated and interoperable approach to national air and missile defense. Envisioned as a multi-layered architecture, Golden Dome integrates land, air, and space-based surveillance, interception, and airspace management technologies to safeguard U.S. airspace against rapidly evolving threats from land, sea, air, and space. These threats include aircraft incursions, unmanned aerial systems, and cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic missiles.

Achieving this vision demands unprecedented coordination and collaboration between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of War (DoW). This interaction becomes even more challenging as FAA continues its effort to transform the U.S. air traffic control system to meet the complex airspace of the future through the Brand New Air Traffic Control System (BNATCS). Both Golden Dome and BNATCS are evolving simultaneously to address the demands of an increasingly complex airspace environment. Together, these agencies must develop a common operating picture that maximizes data fusion and shared domain awareness across multi-layered sensor systems. This level of integration presents both technical and organizational challenges, as each agency operates under distinct mandates, authorities, and acquisition frameworks that must be aligned to ensure effective civil–military operations.

Creating a coordinated capability to detect, identify, classify, track, and engage within the air domain is essential to ensuring safe and effective civil and military operations in an increasingly complex air traffic environment. Establishing interoperable standards, data-sharing protocols, and fail-safe operational linkages will be critical to delivering the robust protection required for the nation’s skies and critical infrastructure.