President Donald Trump's plan to put weapons in space — pitched as a “Golden Dome for America” missile defence program — is estimated to cost $1.2 trillion over a 20-year period, according to a new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, a far heftier sum than the initial $175 billion price tag he gave last year.
The nonpartisan CBO report, published Tuesday (May 12, 2026), is described as an analysis that reflects “one illustrative approach rather than an estimate of a specific Administration proposal.”
On the Golden Dome: how Trump’s missile shield tests space law
The futuristic system was ordered by Mr. Trump in an executive order during his first week in office. He said then that he expected the system to be “fully operational before the end of my term,” which wraps up 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,” Mr. Trump said in his executive order, justifying the need for the missile defence system.
