Colorado Springs and Huntsville Leaders Join Forces on U.S. Space Command Transition and Golden Dome Missile Defense

The initiative brings together stakeholders from both regions to support America’s evolving space operations and next generation missile defense strategy.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., and HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — As the United States moves forward with the Golden Dome missile defense initiative and prepares for the planned transition of U.S. Space Command headquarters to Alabama, leaders from Colorado Springs and Huntsville are meeting today in Huntsville, to examine how both regions will contribute to the next generation of U.S. space and homeland defense capabilities. The discussions will focus on how the missile defense expertise centered in Huntsville and the operational capabilities concentrated in Colorado Springs can support the deployment of next-generation missile warning, tracking, command-and-control, and interceptor systems. The meeting comes amid growing federal investment in advanced missile defense technologies, including Golden Dome, and increasing concern over evolving ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missile threats.

Golden Dome represents the most ambitious U.S. homeland missile defense proposal in decades. Established by executive order in January 2025, the program is envisioned as a layered defense architecture capable of defending against ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missile threats, as well as other advanced aerial attacks.

As the initiative moves toward demonstration and deployment, Huntsville and Colorado Springs are expected to play significant roles in supporting the defense shield. Huntsville, which is on track to become the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command, is home to the U.S. Army Materiel Command, Missile Defense Agency, Redstone Arsenal, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, the Space Development Agency’s South Satellite Control Center, Portfolio Executive (PAE) Fires and other critical defense organizations, alongside NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Colorado Springs is home to the U.S. Space Force’s Combat Forces Command (CFC), Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, U.S. Air Force Academy, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), entities to contribute to missile warning, tracking and command-and-control functions. Together, the two regions host key military, technical and industrial capabilities relevant to the development of a layered homeland missile defense shield.

“No single organization or community can deliver a program as complex as Golden Dome alone,” said Johnna Reeder Kleymeyer, President and CEO of the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC. “Colorado Springs and Huntsville each support critical elements of the nation’s space and missile defense architecture, and this effort highlights the value of aligning those capabilities as the program moves from planning to implementation.”

More than 70 aerospace and defense companies maintain operations in both Colorado Springs and Huntsville, reflecting the increasingly integrated defense-industrial base supporting U.S. missile defense efforts. Companies, including Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, have secured positions under SHIELD, one of the contracting vehicles supporting development of the Golden Dome missile defense architecture. Additional acquisition programs issued by the Pentagon include opportunities in space-based sensing, interceptor technologies, hypersonic defense and command-and-control systems, areas in which both regions maintain significant technical expertise. The initiative is expected to require close coordination among military organizations, industry partners and research institutions across the nation.

“The success of Golden Dome will ultimately be measured by the nation’s ability to field new capabilities at speed and scale,” said Chip Cherry, President and CEO of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber. “With Huntsville’s and Colorado Springs’ central role in space and missile defense operations, our two regions are uniquely positioned to help support the next generation of homeland defense systems.”

The Colorado Springs-Huntsville mission highlights the expanding link between space operations, missile defense and advanced defense manufacturing as the United States strengthens its homeland defense architecture. While each region brings unique strengths, leaders involved in the effort stress that collaboration across the defense enterprise is essential to addressing emerging national security challenges and deploying next-generation missile defense systems.

General Stephen Whiting, Commander of U.S. Space Command, will join the gathering as a guest and keynote speaker. Over the past year he has led a relocation of his command’s headquarters from Colorado Springs to Huntsville and is uniquely suited to reinforce the commonalities between the two communities and celebrate their shared commitment to national defense.

“America’s Olympic City and America’s Rocket City have extended incredible support to the men and women of U.S. Space Command through our ongoing headquarters relocation, helping ensure continued mission continuity and focus as we establish a footprint in Huntsville,” Whiting said. “We are grateful for the novel formation of this twin-city partnership and optimistic that it will continue serving our nation’s critical defense interests as space becomes an increasingly contested domain.”

U.S. Space Command was re-established at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado in 2019. President Trump announced its headquarters’ relocation on Sept. 2, 2025. Currently, the command has more than 150 of its 1,800 total force population working on the ground at Redstone Arsenal.