The Pentagon has presented the White House with several options for developing "Golden Dome." This is President Donald Trump's vision for a state-of-the-art missile shield that could protect the United States from long-range attacks that are likely to cost hundreds of billions of dollars, CNN reports.
Trump is expected to announce his preferred option — and its price tag — in the coming days, a decision that will set a path forward for funding, developing and deploying the space-based missile defense system over the next several years. Whichever option Trump chooses, it won't be cheap; $25 billion is earmarked in next year's defense budget for the system, but the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the U.S. could have to spend more than $500 billion — over 20 years — to develop a sustainable Golden Dome, CNN reports.
The project will also present a bonus for private contractors as the government will not be able to build it alone, with companies including Elon Musk's SpaceX competing for highly lucrative contracts related to the system.
The Department of Defense "has developed a draft architecture and implementation plan for a 'Golden Dome' system that will protect Americans and our homeland from a broad range of global missile threats," Pentagon spokesman and senior adviser Sean Parnell told CNN in a statement.
"The Secretary of Defense and other Department leaders have engaged with the President to present options and look forward to announcing the path forward in the coming days," Parnell added.
Early in Hegseth's tenure, the White House was trying to reach out to Hegseth's former chief of staff, Joe Kasper, to convince the Pentagon chief to sign a memorandum that would jumpstart the drafting process, but the memorandum remained unsigned for three weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Hegseth has repeatedly insisted that Golden Dome is “under construction,” but Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, reaffirmed Thursday that the system is still largely just a concept at this stage. (A2 Televizion)
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