US President Donald Trump announced plans for the ambitious “Golden Dome” missile defense shield this week, saying it would cost $175 billion and take around three years to develop, but some experts say the price is many times higher.
The Golden Dome Project is intended for the United States to design and deploy next-generation missile defense shields across the continent, United States, allowing the United States to detect, track and intercept hypersonic missiles and other advanced aviation threats. What makes the Golden Dome unique is its presence of space-based interceptors. Spacecraft in Earth orbit can fire missile threats while flying.
On Tuesday (May 20), Trump and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegses held a press conference at the White House, during which time General Michael Guetrein, Associate Director of Space Business, will lead the program. “Now is the time to change that equation and start to double the protection of our hometown,” Guetrein said at a press conference.
Heggs A statement has been issued “On May 20, the Department of Defense demanded its first $25 billion in funding as part of Trump.”One big and beautiful invoice“Act on which tax cuts and changes in spending.
“We look forward to continuing our work with Congress to secure funding for the critical capabilities needed to request the FY26 budget,” added Hegseth’s statement. “The Golden Dome will ensure that the enemy develops more advanced, deadly long-range weapons while keeping American homelands exposed.”
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Report has been published On May 5th, we estimate the cost of unfolding a space-based interceptor constellations similar to those outlined by Trump in his vision of the Golden Dome. According to the CBO, the minimum estimate for the development and deployment of such a system is around $161 billion, which is under Trump’s forecast costs. A higher estimate from CBOs suggests that costs could reach $542 billion, or more than $50 trillion.
In reality, the final price tag could be even higher.
During the security summit Politico hosts This month, US Space Force Director B. Chance Saltzman explained his cost estimate. “I’ve been in this business for 34 years. I’ve never seen an early estimate that’s too expensive,” says Saltzman. Air and Space Force Magazine. “My gut says I have the extra funds I need.”
The Golden Dome is described as a purely defensive system for protecting the neighboring United States, but other countries have already questioned the intent behind the program.
Mao Ning, spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs He told reporters Today (May 21), the Golden Dome Program has a “strong aggressive nature” that “expands the US measures for combat operations in space,” and “violates the principles of peaceful use in the Space Treaty.”
Russia initially criticized the initiative, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday (May 20). He said the Golden Dome is a “question for American sovereignty” and that the US should be able to build missile defenses if it recognizes the threat. According to the Moscow Times.
The Golden Dome is at least inspired by the Israeli Iron Dome. Israeli Iron Dome is a missile shield system that has been used by the Israeli Defence Force since 2011 to intercept rockets and artillery weapons. It consists of a radar system that detects and tracks threats, a missile launcher, and a control center that coordinates between the two.
Goldendome also has its roots in the previous missile defense programme proposed by President Ronald Reagan, known as the Strategic Defense Initiative. Reagan introduced this idea Address aired in March 1983 He begged the scientific community to help the United States develop space-based defense weapons that could make the threat from nuclear weapons “powerless and outdated.”
The SDI program was given the nickname “Star Wars” by the media because of the whimsical sounds of the time. But that was before Earth’s orbit was militarized, and launch costs plummeted exponentially thanks to reusable rocket technology, and the countries began to deploy space-based weapons only discovered in sci-fi when Reagan gave him his address.
Fast forward 40 years, Trump says the Golden Dome Project can finally see Reagan’s vision come to life.
“We’re going to really complete the work President Regan started 40 years ago and end the missile threat to America’s homeland forever,” Trump said.
