Rocket Lab and Raytheon getting pulled into the Space Force Space Based Interceptor program is the part of Golden Dome worth watching, precisely because it is the least compatible with normal defense theater.

Space Systems Command wants a proliferated low Earth orbit interceptor layer demonstrated inside the architecture by 2028. That deadline is either fantasy or a procurement weapon. In both cases it forces the old missile defense stack to confront the commercial space machine it spent years treating as an auxiliary launch vendor.

The hard problem is not a speech about shielding the homeland. It is kill vehicle custody in orbit, sensor custody across phases, orbital logistics, command authority measured in seconds, and enough cheap launches to make failure survivable. The interesting shift is that missile defense is being dragged from exquisite ground assets toward manufactured constellations. If it works even partially, deterrence starts pricing factory cadence.