China beats US to planet-wide missile defence, fields Golden Dome prototype

China launches global missile defence

China has reportedly developed a first-of-its-kind missile defence system with a global reach, according to the South China Morning Post. The “distributed early warning detection big data platform” can reportedly monitor up to a thousand missiles fired at China from anywhere in the world simultaneously. Analysts note that the system resembles the U.S. Golden Dome project proposed by President Donald Trump.

The system, still in its early stages of development, marks a milestone in global missile defence capabilities. Chinese scientists claim it integrates sensors across space, ocean, air and ground to detect, track, and analyse threats in real time.

“The prototype system can achieve distributed parallel scheduling of up to 1,000 data processing tasks across nodes,” said scientists at the Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics Technology, China’s largest R&D hub for defence electronic system engineering, in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese journal Modern Radar on September 2.

They added, “Currently, the prototype system has been tested across multiple early warning and detection system nodes, achieving unified collection, processing, integration and analysis of fragmented, isolated and multi-format early warning and detection data. The resulting data products can be centrally published, significantly enhancing the comprehensive management capabilities of the PLA headquarters.”

This system reportedly distinguishes between real warheads and decoys, tracking weapon types and light trajectories to guide interception systems, according to the report. If fully deployed, it would represent the first missile defence system capable of worldwide coverage, according to the South China Morning Post.

The development draws comparisons to U.S. efforts dating back to the Cold War. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan unveiled the ‘Strategic Defence Initiative’, popularly called “Star Wars,” which he described as a system to “intercept and destroy intercontinental ballistic missiles before they reach our shores” and protect Americans from nuclear attack. While the initiative never became operational, it set a precedent for subsequent missile defence concepts.

Years later, Donald Trump proposed the Golden Dome system in May 2025, a $175 billion multi-layered defence network featuring satellite-based and land-based systems, including 11 short-range batteries across the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii. The project aims to integrate AI across land, sea, air, and space, but a clear technical architecture is yet to be established.

China’s early deployment of a functioning prototype suggests it has moved ahead of the U.S. in implementing a globally encompassing missile defence system, reflecting Beijing’s growing focus on strategic deterrence and technological parity in advanced military systems.