The Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense system just got more expensive. Initially priced at $175 billion, the effort will now cost $185 billion, according to Golden Dome Director Gen. Michael Guetlein.
Speaking at the McAleese Defense Programs Conference in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday, Guetlein said the additional $10 billion would fund “additionally requested space capabilities.” He also said the system will be complete in 2035, seven years later than President Donald Trump’s original timeline.
The Golden Dome program, announced by executive order on Jan. 27, 2025, is the centerpiece of Trump’s missile defense strategy. Described by the administration as a next-generation missile defense shield, it is intended to protect the United States homeland from hypersonic and other advanced missile threats.
The project has already received $25 billion from a reconciliation bill passed last year, which Guetlein said has been used to establish the program’s foundation.
The $10 billion in additional funding will accelerate several key capabilities, including airborne moving target indication, the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, and the Space Data Network.
The Space Force has been developing space-based airborne moving target indication constellations in coordination with the intelligence community. Prototype satellites are already in orbit, with operational capability expected in the 2030s.
The Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, a joint effort between the Missile Defense Agency and the Space Force, is designed to detect and track advanced missile threats. Two demonstration satellites launched in 2024 have successfully tracked missile targets and transmitted data to interceptors.
The Space Data Network will provide the communications backbone, linking satellites and ground stations through high-speed, secure, and continuous connections.
Price tags rise, but outside estimates remain higher
Some analysis conducted by outside sources, like the American Enterprise Institute, claim that the Golden Dome architecture could cost trillions of dollars. But Guetlein argued that the projected cost does not approach outside estimates because they describe a different type of system.
“There’s been numerous cost estimates out there in excess of a trillion dollars,” he said. “I would say the difference between what they are estimating and what we are building is they’re not estimating what I’m building. They’re estimating a very large, complex capability, fully integrated using technologies that we currently use to fight the away game. That kit is very expensive.”
He added that Golden Dome is designed differently to reduce complexity and cost.
“We are changing that equation for Golden Dome … to bring down that cost equation and not exceed that $185 billion that the President has committed to the nation,” Guetlein said.
New deadline, challenges to achieving Golden Dome
Guetlein also addressed questions regarding the new deadline stating that the 2028 date was not included as a formal requirement in the original executive order.
While it is true that the initial order did not include a 2028 deadline, Trump said in May 2025 the system would be “up and running” by 2028.
But according to Guetlein, the President’s 2028 goal is a benchmark for demonstrating initial capability.
“The president did ask us to rapidly change the defensive equation of the nation as fast as we possibly can and put a marker on there for the summer of 2028. By the summer of 2028 I have to demonstrate the ability with operational capability deployed in the field to defend ourselves against those threats as identified in the executive order,” he said.
However, the challenge is to scale production, according to Guetlein.
“‘Can I scale? Can the industrial base, which has been optimized for efficiency for generations, suddenly change that equation and start scaling and becoming more efficient, more effective?’ That is not just a material problem, it’s also a labor problem,” Guetlein said.