Golden Dome: NORTHCOM’s JTF-Gold takes on cyber warfare for the US missile-defence shield

Joint Task Force-Gold (JTF-Gold) of US Northern Command (NORTHCOM), which coordinates the air and missile defence capabilities of the Golden Dome for America, has taken on a new mission: providing cyber warfare capabilities for the system. Its deputy commander, Col. Kevin Stonerock, announced it to reporters at the Association of the US Army (AUSA) conference in Washington on Wednesday, October 14, according to Breaking Defense.

Cyber warfare “has become a new mission for us”, Stonerock said. “We are helping to form the team of teams, all the different communities involved, whether vendors or other government agencies, so that there is actually a cyber warfare capability for the GDA, and that is one of the main things we are focused on,” he added. He then clarified that the cyber activities concern only the defence of Golden Dome capabilities against adversary attacks, not offensive operations.

NORTHCOM announced the creation of JTF-Gold in January 2026, saying the new command “strengthens the integration and synchronisation of the homeland integrated air and missile defence system”. According to Defence Industry Europe, it was headed by the then commander of the Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC). Since April, Lt. Gen. John Rafferty has held the dual post, while the team, with about 100 personnel, is housed with SMDC at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado.

“JTF-Gold was formed to operationalise the Golden Dome for America for NORTHCOM,” Stonerock explained. The team took part in the siting and construction of the first operational Golden Dome facility at Fort Story, Virginia, and will do the same for the next ones. However, the division of asset-management responsibilities between NORTHCOM and Space Command (SPACECOM) has not yet been defined. “There is a lot we still have to sort out,” he admitted.

In February, a planning sprint in Colorado Springs with more than 300 participants produced a concept of operations. The next one, in late October, will examine the roles of the three “big” Golden Dome operations centres, at Peterson and Schriever in Colorado and Tyndall in Florida. “Who should do what, do we have the resources to do it, and what additional capabilities exist?” Stonerock said of the questions to be asked.

Air defence and counter-drone dominated this year’s AUSA, where BAE Systems presented the MDACS with HVP rounds and a microwave weapon, while Anduril promotes the new Steelfin interceptor family.