Lockheed Martin is designing a space-based missile interceptor and aims to test the technology for potential integration into President Donald Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ defense shield within the next three years.

The defense contractor revealed this week that it hopes to test a satellite defensive weapon capable of destroying hypersonic missiles by 2028.

If successful, this would mark the first time in history the United States has deployed interceptors in space to destroy enemy missiles before they reach the homeland. Lockheed is still weighing different technologies, ranging from lasers to kinetic satellites that could maneuver and strike high-speed targets in flight.

‘We have missile warning and tracking satellites made by Lockheed Martin in orbit today that provide timely detection and warning of missile threats,’ said Amanda Pound, mission strategy and advanced capabilities director at Lockheed Martin Space, told Fox News Digital.

‘We are committed to making space-based interceptors for missile defense a reality, leveraging our decades of experience, investments, and industry partnerships, to be ready for on orbit testing in 2028.’

Lockheed’s space interceptor project directly supports Trump’s ‘Golden Dome for America’ initiative, first unveiled in May 2025. The ambitious missile defense concept calls for a global constellation of satellites armed with sensors and interceptors, designed to detect, track and eliminate advanced missile threats – including hypersonic and ballistic weapons – before they can strike U.S. soil.

The idea echoes President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative, often dubbed ‘Star Wars,’ which was dismissed at the time as science fiction. But today, the technologies once seen as far-fetched are rapidly advancing, according to defense leaders.

Gen. Michael Guetlein, appointed by the Trump administration to head Golden Dome, emphasized that key components of the system already exist, expressing confidence in achieving a test-ready platform by 2028. Still, it’s no easy feat.

‘Intercepting a missile in orbit is a pretty wicked hard problem physics‑wise,’ said Jeff Schrader, vice president of Lockheed’s space division. ‘But not impossible,’ he added, noting breakthroughs in maneuverability and guidance systems.

Analysts caution that to make the Golden Dome vision a reality, the U.S. may need to launch thousands of interceptors into orbit. Some have compared it to the Cold War–era ‘Brilliant Pebbles’ program, which proposed a similar space-based missile shield but was eventually shelved due to skyrocketing costs and technical hurdles.

Golden Dome is currently projected to cost $175 billion, with $25 billion already approved by Congress. But long-term estimates range anywhere from $161 billion to over $830 billion over two decades – raising questions about the program’s affordability and long-term sustainability.

Meanwhile, Lockheed is bolstering ground-based missile defense systems to complement the orbital layer. In March 2025, the company’s Aegis Combat System aboard the USS Pinckney successfully simulated the interception of hypersonic medium-range missiles during the FTX-40 exercise, codenamed Stellar Banshee.

The company is also advancing infrared seeker technology for interceptors, which would enhance the tracking and targeting of fast-moving missiles in their terminal phase.

Lockheed remains a central player in the Pentagon’s broader missile defense and hypersonic weapons development effort. It is the prime contractor for the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI), which is targeting an initial operating capability by the end of fiscal year 2028.

Simultaneously, the company is fulfilling Navy contracts for its Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic weapons system. Sea-based deployment of CPS is expected to begin between 2027 and 2028.

President Trump has publicly stated he wants Golden Dome operational by the end of his term. But industry officials warn that supply chain limitations and the Pentagon’s slow-moving procurement system make full deployment by 2029 unlikely.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia asserted that she is ‘radically AMERICA FIRST,’ shaming those who are not and labeling them as ‘the enemy.’

The congresswoman said that the nation is ‘falling apart.’ 

‘I’m America First. Maybe even America only. I don’t care if you call me an isolationist. America is our home. And it’s falling apart,’ she wrote on social media.

‘When my children’s generation are buried in credit card debt, student loan debt, can’t afford rent, can’t afford car insurance, health insurance, and feel like they will never be able to afford to buy a home, Yes. I’m unapologetically and radically AMERICA FIRST. AND SHAME ON EVERYONE ELSE WHO IS NOT. As a matter of fact YOU are the problem. YOU are the enemy. As a mother, I can’t see it any other way,’ she declared.

Greene has been expressing frustration with the GOP. 

‘I don’t know if the Republican Party is leaving me, or if I’m kind of not relating to Republican Party as much anymore,’ she told the Daily Mail. 

‘I think the Republican Party has turned its back on America First and the workers and just regular Americans,’ Greene said, according to the outlet.

She has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2021.

Wednesday marks the 80th anniversary of when the U.S. employed the first ever nuclear bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, followed by the bombing of Nagasaki three days later on Aug. 9. But despite nearly a century of lessons learned, nuclear warfare still remains a significant threat.

‘This is the first time that the United States is facing down two nuclear peer adversaries – Russia and China,’ Rebeccah Heinrichs, nuclear expert and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Fox News Digital.

Heinrichs explained that not only are Moscow and Beijing continuing to develop new nuclear capabilities and delivery systems, but they are increasingly collaborating with one another in direct opposition to the West, and more pointedly, the U.S.

‘It’s a much more complex nuclear threat environment than what the United States even had to contend with during the Cold War, where we just had one nuclear peer adversary in the Soviet Union,’ she said. ‘In that regard, it’s a serious problem, especially when both China and Russia are investing in nuclear capabilities and at the same time have revanchist goals.’

Despite the known immense devastation that would accompany an atomic war between two nuclear nations, concern has been growing that the threat of nuclear war is on the rise. 

The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – which collectively killed some 200,000 people, not including the dozens of thousands who later died from radiation poisoning and cancer – have been attributed with bringing an end to World War II.

But the bombs did more than end the deadliest war in human history – they forever changed military doctrine, sparked a nuclear arms race and cemented the concept of deterrence through the theory of mutually assured destruction.

Earlier this year the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved forward the ‘Doomsday Clock’ by one second – pushing it closer to ‘midnight,’ or atomic meltdown, than ever before.

In January, the board of scientists and security officials in charge of the 78-year-old clock, which is used to measure the threat level of nuclear warfare, said that moving the clock to 89 seconds to midnight ‘signals that the world is on a course of unprecedented risk, and that continuing on the current path is a form of madness.’

Despite the escalated nuclear threats coming out of North Korea, and international concern over the Iranian nuclear program, the threat level largely came down to the three biggest players in the nuclear arena: Russia, the U.S. and China.

The increased threat level was attributed to Russia’s refusal to comply with international nuclear treaties amid its continuously escalating war in Ukraine and its hostile opposition to NATO nations, as well as China’s insistence on expanding its nuclear arsenal.

But the Bulletin, which was founded by scientists on the Manhattan Project in 1945 to inform the public of the dangers of atomic warfare, also said the U.S. has a role in the increased nuclear threat level.

‘The U.S. has abdicated its role as a voice of caution. It seems inclined to expand its nuclear arsenal and adopt a posture that reinforces the belief that ‘limited’ use of nuclear weapons can be managed,’ the Bulletin said. ‘Such misplaced confidence could have us stumble into a nuclear war.’

But Heinrichs countered the ‘alarmist’ message and argued that deterrence remains a very real protectant against nuclear warfare, even as Russia increasingly threatens Western nations with atomic use.

‘I do think that it’s a serious threat. I don’t think it’s inevitable that we’re sort of staring down nuclear Armageddon,’ she said. 

Heinrichs argued the chief threat is not the number of nuclear warheads a nation possesses, but in how they threaten to employ their capabilities.

‘I think that whenever there is a threat of nuclear use, it’s because adversaries, authoritarian countries, in particular Russia, is threatening to use nuclear weapons to invade another country. And that’s where the greatest risk of deterrence failure is,’ she said. ‘It’s not because of the sheer number of nuclear weapons.’

Heinrichs said Russia is lowering the nuclear threshold by routinely threatening to employ nuclear weapons in a move to coerce Western nations to capitulate to their demands, as in the case of capturing territory in Ukraine and attempting to deny it NATO access.

Instead, she argued that the U.S. and its allies need to improve their deterrence by not only staying on top of their capabilities but expanding their nuclear reach in regions like the Indo-Pacific.

‘The answer is not to be so afraid of it or alarmed that you capitulate, because you’re only going to beget more nuclear coercion if you do that,’ she said. ‘The answer is to prudently, carefully communicate to the Russians they are not going to succeed through nuclear coercion, that the United States also has credible response options.

‘We also have nuclear weapons, and we have credible and proportional responses, and so they shouldn’t go down that path,’ Heinrichs said. ‘That’s how we maintain the nuclear peace. That’s how we deter conflict. And that’s how we ensure that a nuclear weapon is not used.’

President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that nuclear submarines he ordered to counter Russia are now ‘in the region’ ahead of U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit. 

Before boarding Air Force One in Allentown, Pa., to return to Washington, D.C., Trump was asked if the nuclear submarines had already been deployed to ‘face Russia.’ Trump said on TRUTH Social on Friday that he ordered two nuclear submarines ‘to be positioned in the appropriate regions’ in response to what he considered ‘highly provocative statements’ from former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev about potential war with the U.S. 

‘I’ve already put out a statement and the answer is they are in the region, yeah, where they have to be,’ Trump told reporters at Lehigh Valley International Airport on Sunday. 

Trump said that Witkoff is expected to travel to Russia on ‘Wednesday or Thursday.’ Russian state media reported Monday that Witkoff would arrive on Wednesday. The visit comes ahead of the Friday deadline Trump set for Russian President Vladimir Putin to reach a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine or face additional sanctions and tariffs. Trump also has warned about potential secondary tariffs for the purchasers of Russian energy. 

‘Well, there’ll be sanctions, but they seem to be pretty good at avoiding sanctions. You know, they’re wily characters, and they’re pretty good at avoiding sanctions,’ Trump told reporters in front of Marine One. ‘So we’ll see what happens.’

Asked about Witkoff’s message to Moscow and if there’s anything the Russians can do to avoid sanctions, Trump said Sunday, ‘Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.’ 

‘A tremendous number of Russian soldiers have been killed. And likewise Ukraine, a lower number, but still thousands and thousands of people. And now we’re adding towns where they’re being hit by missiles. So it’s a lot of people being killed in that ridiculous war,’ Trump said. ‘We stopped a lot of countries from war, India and Pakistan, we stopped a lot of countries. And we’re going to get that one stopped too. Somehow. We’re going to get that one stopped. That’s a really horrible war.’ 

‘This should be the easiest to stop, and it’s not,’ Trump added. 

Before ordering the deployment of nuclear submarines last week, Trump had warned Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, to ‘watch his words.’ Medvedev had complained that Trump had shortened the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deadline from 50 days to just 10 to 12 days, saying that the ‘ultimatum’ was threat toward war ‘not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country.’ 

Despite Trump cautioning that Medvedev was entering ‘dangerous territory,’ the Russian official doubled down and referenced Russia’s ‘Dead Hand’ – the Cold War-era automated nuclear retaliation system developed by the Soviet Union. 

The U.S. and Russia hold the largest nuclear arsenals in the world.

Top Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reportedly downplayed the U.S. deployment of nuclear submarines Monday. He told reporters that ‘American submarines are already on combat duty – that’s a constant process’ and the Russians ‘don’t believe this is a case of any sort of escalation,’ according to the Russian-language news website Meduza.

Asked about Medvedev’s remarks, Peskov said members of the leadership in any country have different views but stressed Putin definitively decides Russian foreign policy.

‘We approach any statements related to nuclear issues with great caution,’ Peskov added at the press conference, according to The Moscow Times. ‘Russia is firmly committed to nuclear non-proliferation, and we believe that all parties should exercise the utmost restraint when it comes to nuclear rhetoric.’

Meanwhile, Beijing and Moscow have deepened their ties in recent years, with China providing an economic lifeline to Russia in the face of Western sanctions over the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russia and China have started mock combat drills and other war games in the Sea of Japan, The Telegraph reported. Citing a statement from the Chinese Defense Ministry, the newspaper said the three-day exercise involves four Chinese vessels, including the guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, and entails ‘submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine, air defense and anti-missile operations, and maritime combat,’ as well as naval patrols in ‘relevant waters of the Pacific.’ 

At a press conference announcing details of the annual drills last week, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said the Joint Sea 2025 exercise would be held in the air and seas near the Russian port city of Vladivostok, positioned across the sea from Japan’s west coast. Last year, the drill was held off southern China in the South China Sea.

‘This is an arrangement within the annual cooperation plan between the Chinese and Russian militaries. It is not targeted at any third party, nor is it related to the current international and regional situation,’ Zhang said. 

China and Russia also signed a ‘no-limits’ economic partnership shortly after the war in Ukraine began. 

Zhang criticized ongoing drills that the U.S. Air Force is conducting with Japan and other partners in the western Pacific. Resolute Force Pacific is the largest contingency-response exercise ever conducted by the Air Force in the region, according to the U.S. military. The U.S. Air Force has said their exercise will train its forces to maintain readiness and execute missions under stress to demonstrate their ability to defend the United States and partner nations in the Pacific.

‘The U.S. has been blindly flexing muscles in the Asia-Pacific region and attempting to use military drills as a pretext to gang up, intimidate and pressure other countries, and undermine peace and stability in the region,’ Zhang told reporters. 

Japan’s Defense Ministry said in an annual report earlier this month that China’s growing military cooperation with Russia poses serious security concerns.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A new memo being sent to House Republicans on Monday is encouraging them to tout new work requirements for Medicaid and federal food benefits, as lawmakers return to their districts for Congress’ annual August recess period.

Democrats and Republicans are locked in a messaging war over President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ a fight that’s only expected to intensify as the 2026 midterm elections creep closer.

Advancing American Freedom (AAF), a group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, is looking to provide backup to GOP lawmakers with new guidance on how to sell the bill to constituents.

The memo positions Democratic attacks as ‘Left Wing operatives…already working to distort and malign every part of the [one big, beautiful bill].’

Democrats have been accusing Republicans of ripping federal benefits like Medicaid away from millions of people in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy.

They’re hoping to gin up enough outrage against the bill to carry them to take back the House of Representatives next year.

But the memo’s first section encourages GOP lawmakers to point out that ‘every Democrat voted against’ the bill, followed by three of what the right sees as its strongest points.

The AAF memo urges Republicans to say, for example, that the bill’s extension of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) avoided a cumulative $4 trillion tax increase for Americans, including ‘working families.’

The bill also includes ‘$165 billion to secure the border, including 3,000 new border patrol agents, $10,000 bonuses for ICE and Border Patrol agents, and $46.5 billion for the wall,’ and ‘$150 billion to rebuild our military including shipbuilding, nuclear arsenal, and the Golden Dome,’ which Democrats opposed as well in their votes against the bill.

In addition to more talking points celebrating the bill’s tax cuts, energy provisions, and spending cut measures, AAF appears to be calling on Republicans to take on Democrats’ criticism of federal benefit reforms head-on.

The memo touts ‘commonsense Medicaid reforms’ like ‘a work requirement for able-bodied adults who are not caretakers or parents of children under 15 years old in the Medicaid and SNAP programs.’

It also encourages Republicans to point out the bill ‘reduces payments for Medicaid to states that provide coverage to illegal aliens by a commensurate amount’ and ‘requires regular reviews to ensure that dead or ineligible people are not enrolled.’

AAF also believes the conservative policy wins in the bill will also be a strong talking point, urging GOP lawmakers to point out that the legislation effectively defunds Planned Parenthood for a year, establishes a new tax credit for school choice, and ‘disincentivizes gambling by letting gamblers only write off 90% of their losses.’

House Republicans working to sell the bill will have their work cut out for them over the next four weeks, however.

A recent Fox News poll conducted in mid-July found that 58% of registered voters disapproved of the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ compared to just 39% who supported it.

The gap between Republicans and Democrats is significant – 73% of registered Republican voters approved of the bill, compared to just 10% of Democrats. Independents opposed the bill by a margin of 29% to 70%.

But Democrats aren’t in the clear, either. A new poll released Monday by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that a significant number of Democratic Party voters see their party as ‘weak’ and ‘ineffective.’

A Senate Republican wants to crack down on public officials who use their position to grow their wealth.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is set to introduce legislation that would create stiffer penalties for public officials who commit federal bank fraud, tax fraud, or loan or mortgage fraud. Cornyn’s bill comes on the heels of two such instances where top officials and lawmakers were hit with allegations of mortgage fraud.

Indeed, Cornyn’s Law Enforcement Tools to Interdict Troubling Investments in Abodes (LETITIA) Act is named for New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The Justice Department earlier this year opened an investigation into James, who successfully won a civil case last year against President Donald Trump and his Trump Organization over allegations of faulty business practices, for alleged mortgage fraud.

Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte alleged in a letter that James could have engaged in mortgage fraud by making false or misleading statements on property records, like a loan application that said her property in Virginia is her primary residence, a building record stating her multifamily Brooklyn property incorrectly has five residences instead of four, and a mortgage application that falsely stated James was her father’s spouse.

‘This legislation would empower President Trump to hold crooked politicians like New York’s Letitia James accountable for defrauding their constituents, violating their oath of office, and breaking the law, and I’m proud to lead my Republican colleagues in introducing it,’ Cornyn said in a statement.

Fox News Digital reached out to James for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Cornyn’s bill also comes after his colleague Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was similarly hit with allegations of mortgage fraud.

In another letter to the Justice Department, Pulte charged that Schiff falsified bank documents and property records by listing homes in Maryland and California as his primary residence out of an effort to allegedly get more favorable loans.

Marisol Samayoa, a spokesperson for Schiff, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that both Trump and Pulte’s ‘false allegations are a transparent attempt to punish a perceived political foe who is committed to holding Trump to account.’

‘The facts here are simple: Senator Schiff and his wife accurately represented to their lenders that they would occupy and use the Maryland house they purchased in 2003 as a ‘principal residence,’ rather than a vacation home or an investment property,’ she said. ‘He also disclosed to his lenders – repeatedly – that he maintained another home in his district in California, where he lived when not in Washington, and which was also a principal residence, not a vacation home or an investment property.’ 

‘This was done in consultation with relevant House counsel. As was proper, he claimed only a single homestead tax exemption (from California) worth approximately $70 in annual savings,’ she continued.

The bill, which is so far co-sponsored by six Senate Republicans, would increase federal statutory maximum sentences and fines for public officials who abuse their offices and violate the public trust to commit bank fraud, loan or mortgage fraud, or tax fraud.

It would create new mandatory minimum sentences, including one year for bank fraud, one year for loan or mortgage fraud, and six months for tax fraud. And if a public official engages in a repeated pattern of offenses, minimum sentences increase to five years for bank or loan fraud and two years for tax fraud.

Attorney General Pam Bondi directed her staff Monday to act on the criminal referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard related to the alleged conspiracy to tie President Donald Trump to Russia, and the Department of Justice is now opening a grand jury investigation into the matter, Fox News Digital has learned.

Bondi ordered an unnamed federal prosecutor to initiate legal proceedings, and the prosecutor is expected to present department evidence to a grand jury to secure a potential indictment, according to a letter from Bondi reviewed by Fox News Digital and a source familiar with the investigation.

A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on the report of an investigation but said Bondi is taking the referrals from Gabbard ‘very seriously.’ The spokesperson said Bondi believed there is ‘clear cause for deep concern’ and a need for the next steps.

The DOJ confirmed two weeks ago it received a criminal referral from Gabbard. The referral included a memorandum titled ‘Intelligence Community suppression of intelligence showing ‘Russian and criminal actors did not impact’ the 2016 presidential election via cyber-attacks on infrastructure’ and asked that the DOJ open an investigation.

No charges have been brought at this stage against any defendants. A grand jury investigation is needed to secure an indictment against any potential suspects.

The revelation that the DOJ is moving forward with a grand jury probe comes after Gabbard declassified intelligence in July that shed new light on the Obama administration’s allege determination that Russia sought to help Trump in the 2016 election.

Former President Barack Obama and his intelligence officials allegedly promoted a ‘contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true. It wasn’t,’ Gabbard said during a press briefing of the intelligence.

Among the declassified material was a meeting record revealing how Obama allegedly requested his deputies prepare an intelligence assessment in December 2016, after Trump had won the election, that detailed the ‘tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.’ 

That intelligence assessment stressed that Russia’s actions did not affect the outcome of the election but rather were intended to sow distrust in the democratic process.

It is unclear who is under investigation and what charges could be in play given statutes of limitations for much of the activity from nearly a decade ago have lapsed.

Former Obama intelligence officials, including John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey have drawn scrutiny from Trump officials for their involvement in developing intelligence that undermined Trump’s 2016 victory.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.