By Mike Stone
WASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) – 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 a $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 shoot down 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.
The system would cover the entire United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, and would have the capacity to fully engage an attack from a regional adversary such as North Korea. However, the CBO warned the system could be overwhelmed by a full-scale attack from Russia or China.
The executive order establishing Golden Dome, signed on January 27, 2025, set an aggressive timetable to field a comprehensive homeland missile-defense system by 2028.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; editing by Chris Sanders)
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