Speaking at a security conference organized by Politico, the Chief of Staff of the US Space Force, General Bradley Chance Saltzman, emphasized that the $542 billion budget planned by the US Congress for the Golden Dome system is not enough to carry out this ambitious project.
“I’ve been in the industry for over 34 years and I’ve never seen an initial estimate that was too high. My gut tells me that additional funding is going to be needed,” said General Saltzman.
“More funding will be needed,” he said, suggesting the cost could be more than $1.5 trillion.
The system is intended to detect, track and defeat hypersonic missiles and other sophisticated threats, General Saltzman added.
The Golden Dome, proposed by President Trump earlier this year, is a layered missile defense system that would include ground-based and space-based components. The project is still in the conceptual phase, but the White House is ready to commit significant funds despite the Pentagon’s budget cuts.
Mr. Salzman specified that the system would be based on a satellite architecture in low and medium Earth orbit, capable of intercepting ballistic, hypersonic and nuclear missiles.
The US Missile Defense Agency has received more than 360 proposals from companies, including the idea of creating a “swarm” of thousands of small satellites equipped with artificial intelligence to track and neutralize threats.
The project has been compared to the US Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) of the 1980s, dubbed "Star Wars". However, experts doubt the feasibility of the project due to its technical complexity and high cost.
Former Pentagon auditor Dov Zakheim estimates the annual cost of the Golden Arches at $100 billion through 2030.
Critics, including Center for Arms Control Executive Director John Tierney, consider the project economically unjustified, pointing out that attack missiles are significantly cheaper than interceptors.
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