US ‘Golden Dome’ Missile Shield Could Cost $1.2 Trillion, Congressional Analysis Finds

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — A sweeping missile defense initiative proposed by US President Donald Trump could cost as much as $1.2 trillion over the next two decades, according to a new analysis released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, dramatically exceeding the president’s earlier estimate of $175 billion.

The proposed system, branded by Trump as the “Golden Dome for America,” aims to deploy advanced missile defense technologies in space and on the ground to counter emerging strategic threats from rival powers.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stressed that its report was based on “one illustrative approach rather than an estimate of a specific Administration proposal,” noting that the lack of detailed information from the Pentagon made precise cost calculations difficult.

Trump first ordered development of the futuristic defense shield through an executive order signed during his first week back in office. At the time, he said he expected the system to be “fully operational before the end of my term” in January 2029.

“Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems,” Trump said in the order, arguing that the United States needed a new generation of missile defense capabilities.

The Golden Dome concept is partially modeled on Israel’s layered missile defense network, commonly referred to as the Iron Dome, which has played a major role in intercepting rockets and missiles launched by Iran and allied armed groups during the ongoing regional conflict.

Unlike Israel’s system, however, the proposed US network would include extensive space-based infrastructure capable of detecting, tracking, and intercepting missiles during multiple phases of flight.

According to the CBO, uncertainties surrounding the number and type of systems to be deployed make it “impossible to estimate the long-term cost” of the program with precision.

Congress has already approved roughly $24 billion for the initiative through a large Republican-backed tax and spending package signed into law last summer.

Michael A. Guetlein, the senior military official overseeing the Golden Dome project, defended the initiative during testimony before lawmakers last month.

“Various groups estimating costs just take the cost of a legacy system and they multiply it out, and they get these really large numbers, and they say, well, that must be it,” Guetlein said.

“That is not what Golden Dome is doing. We are laser-focused on affordability,” he added.

Critics in Congress, however, have sharply questioned both the cost and feasibility of the project.

US Senator Jeff Merkley, who requested the CBO analysis, described the missile shield as “nothing more than a massive giveaway to defense contractors paid for entirely by working Americans.”

The latest estimate also builds on earlier projections by the CBO, which last year concluded that the space-based components of the Golden Dome system alone could cost up to $542 billion over 20 years.

The proposal comes as Washington accelerates military modernization efforts amid growing tensions with China, Russia, and Iran, and increasing concern over the development of hypersonic and next-generation missile technologies by rival states.