Jane Edwards
Jared Summers, senior vice president and chief technology officer at LMI, said building Golden Dome into an effective missile defense shield requires “blending the reach of space with the agility of terrestrial networks.”
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Golden Dome Must Take Root on the Ground
“Golden Dome must become as adaptive as the adversaries it seeks to deter,” Summers wrote in an article published on LMI’s website.
He stated that the proposed defense shield must “take root on the ground” by making terrestrial domain security a mission requirement.
The CTO highlighted the need to develop defenses that can expect and adapt to interference.
“Golden Dome, when extended into terrestrial operations, must be resilient enough to thrive in an environment where disruption is the norm, not the exception,” Summers said.
He noted that the true value of satellites is multiplied when combined with resilient terrestrial systems.
“A comprehensive Golden Dome brings these elements together into a seamless defense shield,” he wrote. “By blending the reach of space with the agility of terrestrial networks, the Joint Force gains both perspective and precision. It can see the fight more clearly and act with greater assurance, even when adversaries try to blind or disrupt it.”
Treating Cloud Access as an Accelerant
The LMI executive cited the overreliance on cloud-based platforms, which can be exploited by adversaries.
“Golden Dome must be capable of operating independently at the edge, alerting forward units to threats without waiting on remote servers. It means sustaining operations even when cut off from central hubs,” Summers wrote. “And it means treating cloud access as an accelerant, not a requirement. By engineering for independence, we preserve decision-making and agility where it matters most—on the front lines.”
Doug Wagoner on Golden Dome
LMI CEO Doug Wagoner, a six-time Wash100 Award winner, shared his thoughts on Golden Dome in light of the Potomac Officers Club’s recent interview with Mark Eddings, the company’s SVP for the space market, about the missile defense system.
“From the arming and maintenance of satellites to the use of threat assessments and AI, Golden Dome promises to be a complex system where every element has to be operational and optimized to keep our nation safe and to ensure the program fulfills its promise for years to come,” Wagoner said in a LinkedIn post.
