Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP)
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump unveiled plans for a $175 billion “Golden Dome” missile defense system, insisting it will be operational by the end of his term.
The Golden Dome is envisioned as a ground and space-based, integrated system of sensors, satellites and weapons capable of detecting and destroying missiles fired at the U.S. homeland.
“In the campaign, I promised the American people that I would build a cutting-edge missile defense shield to protect our homeland from the threat of foreign missile attack, and that’s what we’re doing today,” Trump told reporters at an Oval Office ceremony attended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others.
Trump also announced that Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations at the Space Force, will be responsible for overseeing the project.
Guetlein has advocated for greater investment in U.S. space capabilities, and in recent months raised alarms about “an enormous amount of threats” emerging from adversaries such as China.
Testifying before Congress in March, Guetlein compared the Golden Dome to the Manhattan Project that produced the atomic bomb in World War II.
“Golden Dome is a bold and aggressive approach to hurry up and protect the homeland from our adversaries,” Guetlein said at the White House. “We owe it to our children and our children’s children to protect them and afford them a quality of life that we have all grown up enjoying.”
A protective shield to protect America from nuclear missiles has been talked about for decades but never overcame formidable costs and technological challenges.
A initial down payment of $25 billion was set aside in the annual defense policy bill. Trump expressed confidence money can be found to pay for the ambitious project.
According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. may have to spend as much as $542 billion over 20 years to develop the defensive shield.
The Tuesday announcement followed a January executive order signed by Trump that called for an “Iron Dome for America.”
Iron Dome refers to an Israeli missile defense system that has performed well in recent conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah but which protects a vastly smaller territory than envisioned by Golden Dome.
Trump described his plan as the fulfillment of President Ronald Reagan’s dream of space-based missile defense system widely known as “Star Wars.”
Over 10 years, the United States spent about $30 billion on the project but failed to achieve the goal because of technological issues, the thawing of the Cold War and fears that the system would fuel an even costlier global arms race.
President Bill Clinton scrapped the program in 1993.
“President Reagan, 40 years ago, cast the vision for it. Technology wasn’t there,” Hegseth said. “Now it is, and you’re following through to say we will protect the homeland from cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, and drones.
