The Congressional Budget Office estimated Tuesday that 
Donald Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defence system would cost about $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy and operate over two decades, nearly seven times the $175 billion figure the president gave last year. Acquisition costs alone would exceed $1 trillion, covering interceptor layers and a space-based warning and tracking system, the BBC reported, and the nonpartisan scorekeeper warned the system "could be overwhelmed by a full-scale attack mounted by a peer or near-peer adversary."
The CBO report was requested by Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who called the program "nothing more than a massive giveaway to defense contractors paid for entirely by working Americans," the BBC reported. The analysis covers a 20-year horizon and reflects "one illustrative approach rather than an estimate of a specific Administration proposal," NPR reported, with the CBO writing that the Defense Department has not yet supplied enough detail about what would be deployed to fix a long-term cost.
Congress has already approved roughly $24 billion for the initiative through last summer's Republican tax and spending package, NPR reported. Trump ordered the Pentagon to submit plans for the system in his first week back in office and said it would be operational before his term ends in January 2029. The Golden Dome concept is partly modelled on Israel's multi-tiered "Iron Dome," which has been used in defence against rocket and missile fire during the ongoing war on Iran, NPR reported. Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, director of the Golden Dome project, testified to Congress last month about the program's structure, and the CBO report notes its long-term cost cannot be pinned without further Pentagon detail.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
