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The Golden Dome initiative represents the largest missile defense effort in United States history — a $175 billion shield against weapons of mass destruction, aiming to be fully operational within three years. This ambitious undertaking demands perfect synchronization across military branches, with warfighters having mere minutes — sometimes seconds — to detect, track and neutralize existential threats. Yet, in all the urgent discussions about rapidly deploying new technologies and ensuring seamless system integration within this tight budget and timeline, there seems to be a glaring omission: how well warfighters will actually be able to use these systems when seconds count.
The stakes
The Golden Dome is a “system of systems” that will integrate existing defense capabilities with next-generation technologies across land, sea and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors. Success hinges on how quickly joint mission commanders and operators will be able to assess threats and act on them.
Every additional click, every confusing interface, every moment spent translating between incompatible systems reduces our response time when we can least afford it. In a domain where seconds determine outcomes, system usability becomes a strategic imperative.
Why User-Centered Design must drive strategic planning
The challenge is compounded by Golden Dome’s ambitious scope: simultaneously and rapidly fielding new capabilities, modernizing legacy systems and integrating cutting-edge commercial solutions. This is where User-Centered Design (UCD) — the practice of designing systems based on deep understanding of mission objectives, operational contexts and operator needs — becomes critical. Without User-Centered Design-driven standardization of the User Experience (UX) — how operators interact with and navigate these systems — the ambitious scope of Golden Dome becomes impossible.
Imagine training operators to master dozens of disparate interfaces, each with unique workflows, different alert systems and incompatible data formats. Then imagine those same operators trying to coordinate their efforts in real time during a crisis. The cognitive burden alone could prove catastrophic.
This complexity is further amplified as AI and machine learning (ML) accelerate the introduction of new technologies. Every new system added without standardized UX principles exponentially multiplies training requirements, integration challenges and the stakes of usability. What we build today must seamlessly accommodate the innovations of tomorrow.
This is why User-Centered Design must be embedded from the earliest strategic planning phases — not added as an afterthought during development. The Golden Dome will integrate more systems across more services than any missile defense initiative in history. Getting the UX right isn’t optional — it’s foundational to mission success.
What User-Centered Design delivers
User Experience is more than how an application looks and feels — it’s about operational excellence. Apple didn’t invent the smartphone, but by obsessing over the iPhone’s UX, they created a device so intuitive that it shipped without an instruction manual. While competitors focused on features, Apple focused on how people would actually interact with the technology. The result? A product that transformed how humanity communicates.
When the Space Force applied UCD principles to one of the ATLAS program’s satellite collision- avoidance systems, checklist steps were reduced by 60%, reports became automated and updates were provided in real time. These changes reduced task completion time from one to two hours to just 20 minutes — up to an 83% reduction.
In addition to these direct operational efficiencies, UCD also significantly accelerates development through Design Systems — shared libraries where standards compliant interface components, patterns and layouts are pre-built and user-tested. Instead of each team of engineers spending weeks redundantly designing and building common icons and notification patterns for each new application, they can focus their expertise on solving mission-specific challenges and writing the complex code that delivers unique capabilities.
For example, to ensure immediate and unambiguous understanding of incoming threats, unified sensor data visualization offers a low-risk, high-return UX standardization that could dramatically reduce communication mishaps. Imagine intelligence analysts in the Space Force (satellite sensors), Navy (AEGIS destroyers) and Army (THAAD batteries) all looking at radar tracks and sensor data. Standardized icons, color-coding for threat levels (e.g., red for high certainty, yellow for probable) and display formats for missile trajectories would ensure immediate, unambiguous understanding and communication of incoming threats.
User experience standardizations aren’t luxuries — they’re mission-critical capabilities. By addressing concerns about cost or development delays, incorporating UCD best practices and user experience design systems from the start saves time and resources in the long run. This is achieved by providing standardized, common, user-tested tools and capabilities for designers and developers, which inherently avoids the costly rework from building redundant solutions and fixing common usability issues later. Teams using my company’s Space Force-funded Astro UX Design System have reported reducing interface development time by as much as 30%, enabling rapid deployment of critical capabilities. Ultimately, these standardizations are not just an advantage; they are an imperative for achieving the Golden Dome’s ambitious operational deadline and maximizing budget impact.
Standardization without stagnation
Creating commonality of user experience doesn’t mean building identical, one-size-fits-all applications. Different missions require different tools. What matters is consistency in critical areas: how alerts are displayed, how data flows between systems, how operators navigate interfaces. Think of it as establishing a common language while allowing different dialects — each service maintains its unique capabilities while speaking fluently with others.
Well-designed systems become virtually invisible to their users, like the gas and brake pedals in your car. If warfighters are thinking about how to use the interface, we’ve already failed. They should be focused entirely on the threat, not wrestling with the technology. Great UX makes the system disappear, leaving only capability.
This approach enables warfighters to excel at their specific missions while ensuring seamless integration when joint operations demand it. A Navy destroyer’s combat system can retain its maritime focus while sharing threat data effortlessly with Air Force command centers.
The path forward
To succeed, the Defense Department must:
- Integrate UCD into strategic planning: Make user experience a key consideration when defining the Golden Dome’s architecture and requirements, ensuring warfighter needs shape the program from conception.
- Embed UCD in acquisition: Require User-Centered Design standards in all Golden Dome contracts and procurement vehicles, making usability and interoperability evaluation criteria alongside traditional performance metrics.
- Create a Golden Dome design system: Establish standards for critical interfaces, workflows and data visualization — common patterns that enable natural information flow without forcing uniformity.
- Measure what matters: Track training time, threat processing speed and cross-unit collaboration effectiveness to validate strategic decisions and drive continuous improvement.
The choice before us
We can continue the fragmented approach that forces warfighters to master dozens of incompatible systems, or we can build an integrated ecosystem where technology amplifies their capabilities. By embedding User-Centered Design in our strategic planning now, we ensure that every subsequent decision — from architecture to acquisition — serves the warfighter.
Our warfighters deserve tools that match their courage and skill. Through User-Centered Design, we can deliver systems that are powerful yet intuitive, integrated yet flexible. The clock is ticking. Let’s build a Golden Dome that showcases American innovation while guaranteeing our security for generations.
Michal Anne Rogondino is the founder and CEO at Rocket Communications, where her work centers on User-Centered Design, bridging complex engineering with intuitive user experiences. This commitment is reflected in Rocket’s development of Astro, the popular, open-source UX design system funded by the U.S. Space Force, which enables the creation of standardized space defense technology. Rocket proudly serves clients such as Apple, L3 Harris, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Oracle and BAE.
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