On 21 May 2026, Donald Trump publicly detailed a concept for a new White House ballroom whose roof would function as a high-capacity drone port integrated into a hardened security complex beneath the presidential residence. The project, presented as being developed with the U.S. military, combines a large above-ground event space with a six‑storey subterranean structure intended for military-grade use.
Trump describes the underground portion as housing a military hospital, research facilities, military meeting rooms and secure command spaces linked to national defence and continuity-of-government functions. He characterises the complex as a “hardened emergency fortress built directly under the White House.” The roof is described as flat, built from “impenetrable steel” and designed to be drone-proof and missile-proof, with Trump stating that if a drone struck the structure it would “simply bounce off.”
Concept imagery shows military-style drones, armed personnel and support vehicles positioned on the rooftop, which Trump calls “a drone port” and “the greatest drone empire,” claiming it is “set up for unlimited numbers of drones” to help protect Washington, D.C. The available material does not clarify whether this rooftop drone port concept has formal U.S. government approval, funding or an operational mandate, and there are no confirmed details on drone types, command authority, airspace integration or rules of engagement.