Golden Dome and the Future of National Security Must Run on Hardened 5G and Edge
Golden Dome is meant to be a layered defense against physical and digital threats. Without a secure, resilient communications and edge cloud system linking our sensors, weapons, and most importantly our people, it will fail before the first shot is fired.
By Rob Spalding, SEMPRE CEO
President Trump’s vision for a “Golden Dome” isn’t just about missile defense. It’s about shielding America from cyberattacks, drone swarms, and electronic warfare–and now, Congress is putting real funding behind it. But no defense system works without a strong foundation. The initial budget has passed, a program lead has been appointed, both legacy primes and commercial disruptors are lining up. And right now, our communications networks, the backbone of modern life, are dangerously outdated.
We must build secure, hardened, and interoperable 5G and edge cloud infrastructure before the next phase of Golden Dome is built on a weak digital backbone.
The Communications Gap No One Wants to Talk About
For decades, the U.S. government has underinvested in its communications infrastructure, leaving our networks fragmented, vulnerable, and unprepared for modern warfare. The risks of our outdated systems aren’t theoretical, they’re real. I’ve experienced them firsthand.
As a B-2 pilot, I often sat at a desk reserved for one purpose: launching jets. It was the only place we had access to the specific radio used to communicate with our bombers. But I also had responsibilities across the base and needed to stay in constant contact with other commanders. That meant juggling two separate radios for tactical comms and base operations.
I asked a simple question: “Why can’t we combine these radios into one device?”
The answer was emblematic of a deeper problem. “You’d need a memo, an equipment approval, and a formal installation process.” I was told it was illegal. Even when the solution was obvious and the need was urgent bureaucracy stood in the way of basic interoperability.
Later, after returning from a deployment to Guam, I discovered the specific equipment we had offloaded months earlier had vanished. I was filling out a theft report when a senior enlisted airman said, “Sir, don’t worry, we’ll take care of it.” I had already been sitting at that same launch desk for 18 months, and something as simple as mounting a radio on a tower still hadn’t been done.
That experience revealed a critical flaw in how we approach military communications. We were flying the world’s most advanced stealth bomber, yet our ground systems were disconnected, constrained by legacy processes, and siloed by design.
In May 2025, Congress advanced the first $25 billion in funding, with a $150 billion defense reconciliation package to follow. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the funding exceeding $500 billion over the next two decades. That investment will be wasted if we don’t secure the one thing that ties the whole project together–the network.
Why Hardened 5G Is the Foundation
Golden Dome is meant to be a layered defense against physical and digital threats. Without a secure, resilient communications and edge cloud system linking our sensors, weapons, and most importantly our people, it will fail before the first shot is fired.
Just like modern life, modern warfare depends on secure, instant communication. 5G can provide ultra-fast, encrypted links for drones, battlefield coordination, and command networks. If we don’t couple it with edge computing and harden it against cyber and electronic attacks, we’re handing adversaries the win.
Hardened 5G networks built to operate under duress and shielded against interference, can serve as the secure backbone for military communications, disaster response, and critical infrastructure. But to get there, we must overcome several roadblocks:
1. Outdated Procurement Cycles
China’s playbook is proof that communications dominance is the battlefield of the future. Beijing uses its private companies as arms of state policy, leveraging infrastructure projects and telecom investments to exert influence and control. While we debate procurement processes, China deploys secure, sovereign networks around the world. The U.S. must learn from that strategy, not to emulate the authoritarian model, but to recognize that communications security is national security.
Historically the Pentagon moves too slowly. Defense infrastructure is often locked into decade-long procurement timelines that fail to keep pace with the commercial innovation cycle. We need faster acquisition processes that allow the military to test, validate, and deploy new comms systems—particularly hardened 5G—on shorter timelines. We need to break out of Cold War-era procurement cycles and adopt a dual-track approach: build secure military 5G while securing commercial networks for crisis use. Congress must accelerate funding, and DoD must fast-track adoption.
2. Lack of Interoperability and Redundancy
Today’s government and military communications networks are often siloed, built separately by agency, function, or vendor, with little interoperability or system-level coordination. These fractured systems lack the redundancy needed in a crisis. In emergency scenarios, even a minor failure in one part of the network can delay response times and cost lives.
The February 2024 AT&T outage, which temporarily disrupted service for tens of thousands of users, including emergency responders, was a stark reminder of how fragile and interdependent our communications infrastructure has become. It exposed the risks of relying on centralized or vendor-specific systems without adequate backup.
Networks must be designed for interoperability across agencies, with layered redundancy to absorb and adapt to system failures. It is essential for military, civilian, and first-responder systems to communicate reliably under pressure.
3. Unlocking ORAN to Drive Innovation, Resilience, and U.S. Leadership
Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) technology offers a transformational opportunity to make communications infrastructure more flexible, secure, and economically efficient. By enabling multivendor systems, ORAN breaks the cycle of vendor lock-in and allows networks to be built with components from multiple suppliers—enhancing adaptability, increasing resilience, and lowering long-term costs.
ORAN’s benefits extend beyond resilience. It provides a pathway to restore U.S. leadership in wireless innovation, an area long dominated by foreign adversaries. By opening the market to the U.S.-based telecom innovators, hardware manufacturers, and component suppliers, ORAN can stimulate high-paying jobs, drive regional economic growth, and re-anchor critical communications infrastructure within American borders.
In adopting ORAN, the U.S. government can also make its networks more agile and cost-effective. 5G networks built on open standards can streamline upgrades, reduce maintenance costs, and support emerging AI, edge computing, and cybersecurity capabilities. These efficiencies improve operational readiness and save taxpayer dollars over time.
In a world where China is actively exporting closed, centralized 5G systems to extend its global influence, ORAN offers a counter-model: democratic, decentralized, and interoperable by design. We must accelerate the adoption of ORAN-based solutions across federal, military, and critical infrastructure sectors.
The Path Forward
We need hardened, zero-trust, quantum-resilient communications infrastructure that is secure by design, scalable in architecture, and ready for rapid deployment.
We must merge the best of commercial innovation with military-grade resilience: integrating high-speed compute, secure storage, and encrypted comms into a hardened, mobile platform that can be deployed anywhere in hours, not days. In an era where threats evolve rapidly, security must be embedded—not bolted on after.
Golden Dome demands a digital backbone capable of securely connecting command centers, drone platforms, AI systems, and early warning sensors with unbreakable, real-time communications.
Golden Dome Starts with the Network
If we want to build the Golden Dome, then let’s build it right. We need to stop thinking in silos—cyber, drones, kinetic defense—and start thinking in systems that start with the network.
The next war won’t wait. We need hardened 5G, and DoD must drive implementation now. Without secure networks, every other defense effort is at risk.
It’s time to build.
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