The development, deployment and operation of the futuristic “Golden Dome” anti-missile defense system that United States President Donald Trump wants to promote will cost around US$1.2 trillion over two decades.
This is the figure estimated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and represents a considerable increase from the initial sum of US$175 billion that had been allocated for this purpose.
And this system designed to protect the United States against ballistic and cruise missiles may not even work. The new CBO report warned that the “Golden Dome” could be susceptible to a large-scale attack by Russia or China.
The acquisition costs alone would exceed $1 trillion, including interceptor layers and a missile warning and tracking system with heinous in space, the head of the tax audit said in a new report.
The idea to launch this system was one of Trump’s first announcements after his return to the White House to begin his second term.
He then stated that the objective was to counter “next generation” air threats. He also explained that this protection of the US continental space is necessary given the increase in capabilities that other countries have had.
“Our adversaries have rapidly modernized their nuclear forces, building ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, building hypersonic missiles capable of attacking the United States in one hour while traveling at 9,600 km/h,” said legal advisor Michael Guetlein, deputy chief of space operations at the Pentagon, who will oversee the project.
“The golden dome is a bold and aggressive approach to quickly protect our territory from our adversaries,” he added.
“Gift to defense companies”
Last year it said the program would require an initial investment of $25 billion and put the total cost of the project at $175 billion.
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, who requested the estimate be included in the report, noted Tuesday that “the president’s so-called ‘Golden Dome’ is nothing more than a massive giveaway to defense contractors paid in full by American workers.”
The BBC has contacted the White House and the Pentagon for comment.
There have been questions about whether the United States would be able to offer a comprehensive defense system for such a large land mass.
Officials have warned that existing systems are no match for the increasingly sophisticated weapons possessed by potential adversaries.
Despite the projected costs of the “Golden Dome,” “the system could be overwhelmed by a large-scale attack mounted by a peer or near-peer adversary,” the commission report states.
The most catastrophic threat
An executive order calling for the creation of what was initially called the “Iron Dome for America” noted that the threat posed by next-generation weapons has “become more intense and complex” over time, posing a potentially “catastrophic” scenario for the United States.
Trump ordered the Defense Department to submit plans for a system to deter and defend against airstrikes, which the White House said at the time remained “the most catastrophic threat” facing the United States.
Trump claimed the system would consist of “next generation” technologies spread across land, sea and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors.
The system would be “capable of even intercepting missiles launched from the other side of the world or launched from space,” the president said last year.
Last month, SpaceX and Lockheed Martin won contracts worth up to $3.2 billion to develop prototypes of space-based missile interceptors for the system.
This article was originally written in English and we used an artificial intelligence tool to translate it. A BBC journalist reviewed the text before publication. Learn more about how we use AI.
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