The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense shield could cost approximately $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy and operate over 20 years, a figure that dwarfs an $185 billion price tag offered by the program’s Pentagon director.
Golden Dome envisions expanding ground‑based defenses such as interceptor missiles, sensors and command‑and‑control systems while adding space‑based elements meant to detect, track and potentially shootdown incoming threats from orbit. These would include advanced satellite networks and orbiting weapons.
The CBO estimated acquisition costs alone for the system would total just over $1 trillion, with the space-based interceptor layer — a constellation of 7,800 satellites — accounting for about 70 percent of acquisition costs.
(Reuters)
