Cost estimate for 'Golden Dome' missile defense system balloons to $1.2 trillion

President Trump's Golden Dome may end up being quite a bit more expensive than originally thought. A new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates it will cost about $1.2 trillion to deploy the Golden Dome missile defense system and operate it for 20 years. That's more than double the CBO estimate from last year, which was $542 billion, and about seven times higher than the number cited by the White House when it announced the project in May 2025 ($175 billion). The Golden Dome for America (GDA) is an envisioned shield that will protect the United States against ballistic and hypersonic missiles and other aerial threats. It will feature advanced missile-tracking satellites as well as space-based interceptors — satellites capable of shooting down missiles headed toward the U.S., which the Space Force wants to be ready by 2028 . Those broad strokes are basically all we know, however; details of the architecture have not been released. So, the CBO had to get creative in its newly announced cost estimate, filling in gaps in the 2025 executive order that called for Golden Dome's creation. The agency did that, then crunched the numbers. "A national missile defense system possessing capabilities broadly consistent with those outlined in the executive order would cost about $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy, and operate for 20 years, CBO estimates," the 12-page report reads. …