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By Shane Croucher
Senior Editor
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Both Russia and North Korea took aim at the Golden Dome anti-missile system announced recently by U.S. President Donald Trump, warning about the potential consequences of the defense project.
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Washington to abandon the deployment of weapons in space and said the Golden Dome would undermine strategic stability.
Her comments came at a press briefing on Tuesday morning and were reported by TASS, a Russian state news agency.
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North Korea's foreign ministry said the Golden Dome creates "an outer space nuclear war scenario supporting the U.S. strategy for uni-polar domination," according to the state news agency KCNA, citing a memorandum from its American policy studies arm.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Space Force for comment via email outside of normal business hours.
Why It Matters
American military leaders have consistently warned that nations like China and Russia are developing advanced missile technologies that outpace existing U.S. defenses. Golden Dome is intended to close that gap.
What To Know
Trump has unveiled his administration's preferred concept for the Golden Dome program—a sprawling $175-billion initiative that will mark the first time the U.S. deploys weapons in space.
The president said he expects the system to be "fully operational before the end of my term," which ends in 2029, and added it would be capable of intercepting missiles "even if they are launched from space."
China also recently urged the U.S. to abandon its Golden Dome project.
Russia and China have put offensive weapons in space, such as satellites with abilities to disable critical U.S. satellites, which can make the U.S. vulnerable to attack.
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Golden Dome is envisioned to include ground- and space-based capabilities able to detect and stop missiles at all four major stages of a potential attack: before a launch, their earliest stage of flight, midcourse in the air or in the final minutes as they descend toward a target.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in May that just the space-based components of the Golden Dome could cost as much as $542 billion over the next 20 years.
The Pentagon has warned for years that the newest missiles developed by China and Russia are so advanced that updated countermeasures are necessary.
Golden Dome's added satellites and interceptors—where the bulk of the program's cost is—would be focused on stopping those advanced missiles early on or in the middle of their flight.
What People Are Saying
General Chance Saltzman, head of the U.S. Space Force, told lawmakers at a recent hearing that the space-based weapons envisioned for Golden Dome "represent new and emerging requirements for missions that have never before been accomplished by military space organizations."
North Korea's state media outlet KCNA said in its report: "The U.S. plan for building a new missile defense system is the root cause of sparking off global nuclear and space arms race by stimulating the security concerns of nuclear weapons states and turning the outer space into a potential nuclear war field."
Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press briefing: "This highly offensive system violates the principle of peaceful use of outer space. It will exacerbate the risk of turning outer space into a battlefield and starting an arms race, and shake the international security and arms control system."
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.
Update, 5/27/25, 8:36 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include comments from North Korea.
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