Trump fills in some details on ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense plan

In an Oval Office event, President Donald Trump unveiled new details on his plan for a U.S. "Golden Dome" missile-defense system, modeled on Israel's Iron Dome program.

As a presidential candidate in 2023, Trump promised "to build a state-of-the-art, next-generation missile defense shield." On Jan. 27, Trump signed an executive order that set the plan in motion.

At the May 20 White House event, Trump said he'd settled on a design and said protection could be up and running in three years. He tapped Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of operations for the U.S. Space Force, to helm the project.

The U.S. "will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors," Trump said. "This design for the Golden Dome will integrate with our existing defense capabilities and should be fully operational before the end of my term." Trump added that "we're going to make it all here" using U.S. suppliers and manufacturers.

The design includes a constellation of thousands of small satellites that could attack a missile shortly after it launches from a submarine or silo, which experts say is the most feasible time to shoot it down.

At the event, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called it "a generational investment in the security of America and Americans."

Guetlein said at the event that the project is needed because U.S. adversaries "have been quickly modernizing their nuclear forces."

Trump said the project could be completed for $175 billion, with a down payment of $25 billion included in the "big, beautiful" reconciliation bill the House passed May 22; that measure now goes to the Senate for consideration.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the missile defense system's projected costs would range from $161 billion to $542 billion over two decades.

The Golden Dome's planning and construction will take years even under the most optimistic estimates, but Trump's announcement of a design, an official to spearhead the project and the inclusion of a $25 billion down payment in the bill advance the promise. It continues to rate In the Works.