Washington, 13 May (H.S.): The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that President Donald Trump’s ambitious “Golden Dome” missile‑defense plan could cost roughly $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy and operate over 20 years. The CBO’s estimate — based on a notional architecture reflecting the administration’s public descriptions — places acquisition costs at just over $1 trillion and counts a space‑based interceptor layer as the single most expensive element.
Trump first announced the project in January 2025 and subsequently described an initial funding request and a total program cost of about $175 billion, a figure the CBO’s analysis says is far too low compared with its illustrative modelling.
Administration officials have framed Golden Dome as a multilayered shield that would combine ground, air and space components to defeat large missile barrages and other advanced aerial threats.
The CBO flagged space‑based interceptors as driving the bulk of the expense, estimating that a constellation capable of defeating even a limited set of intercontinental threats could require thousands of low‑Earth‑orbit platforms and cost hundreds of billions to field and sustain. In the notional architecture the office studied, the space‑based layer alone accounted for roughly 70 percent of acquisition costs and about 60 percent of total program costs, according to the report.
Beyond acquisition, the CBO projected average annual operations and support costs in the billions, raising questions about long‑term budgetary pressures on the Pentagon and on legislation earmarking funds for the program. Funding to date has been pursued through a mix of Pentagon budget requests and reconciliation or special appropriations, but those sources are politically uncertain and could complicate multi‑decade planning.
Experts and defence analysts who have reviewed the CBO’s findings caution that the office modelled an illustrative not definitive — architecture and that technical, strategic and legal hurdles remain for weaponising space at scale.
Skeptics also note that space‑based interceptors raise complex issues about sustainability, vulnerability to countermeasures, debris and arms‑control implications that could further complicate cost and feasibility assessments.
White House defenders of Golden Dome argue the initiative is intended to protect the homeland from increasingly sophisticated missile threats and to spur technological innovation in integrated missile warning and defeat capabilities.
Nevertheless, the CBO’s substantially higher price estimate places renewed scrutiny on the program’s scope, timetable and justifications as Congress considers whether and how to fund the next phases.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
