Trump’s proposed ‘Golden Dome’ estimated to cost $1.2 trillion, far more than he initially said
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plan to place weapons in space “Golden Dome for America” missile defense program It’s estimated to cost $1.2 trillion over a 20-year period, according to a new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. Initial $175 billion price tag He gave it last year.
The nonpartisan CBO report, released Tuesday, is described as an analysis that reflects “an illustrative approach rather than a prediction of a specific proposal from the Administration.”
The futuristic system was ordered by Trump in an executive order during his first week in office. He later said he expected the system to be “fully operational before the end of my term,” which ends in January 2029.
Justifying the need for a missile defense system, Trump said in his executive order, “Over the past 40 years, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex, rather than diminishing, as next-generation delivery systems are developed by peers and near-competitors.”
CBO’s estimates were based in part on the Department of Defense’s lack of detail on which systems and how many systems would be deployed, making it “impossible to estimate the long-term cost” of the Golden Dome system, the report said.
The concept of the missile system is as follows: I was at least partially inspired Israel’s multi-layered defense systems, often collectively referred to as the “Iron Dome”, play a key role in protecting Israel against rocket and missile fire from Iran and allied militant groups as it wages war against Iran alongside the United States.
The US Gold Dome is envisioned to include land- and space-based capabilities that can detect, intercept and intercept missiles at all key stages of a potential attack.
Congress has approved nearly $24 billion for the missile defense initiative through the massive tax-and-spending measure Republicans signed into law last summer.
Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, director of the Golden Dome project, testified last month about the project’s costs. He told MPs that various groups estimating costs were “just taking the cost of an old system and multiplying that to get really big numbers and saying ‘this should be it’.”
“That’s not what Gold Dome does,” the US Space Force general said. “We are focused on affordability.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who requested the estimate from CBO, said in response to the report that the missile defense project “is nothing more than a massive gift to defense contractors paid entirely by working Americans.”
Last May, the president said the Golden Dome would cost $175 billion. Last year, CBO estimated that Golden Dome’s space-based components alone could cost $542 billion over the next 20 years.
