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rollcall.com
Seven months after President Donald Trump announced plans for a Golden Dome missile shield for America, lawmakers who oversee the Pentagon say they have yet to learn meaningful information about the system’s attributes, cost or schedule.
Trump said in May that the system’s so-called architecture had been “officially selected.” It would be fielded within three years, he said, for a “total cost” of $175 billion. It would include satellite-launched interceptors. And it would protect America “close to 100 percent” from enemy ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles.
Such a system would be orders of magnitude more extensive and expensive than any previously executed, potentially a multitrillion-dollar proposition, experts have said. Few if any of them believe the capability Trump described can be accomplished on the schedule and at the cost he recounted. More likely, they say, is an initial iteration during this presidential term followed by improvements over many years — but ultimately far less defensive coverage than 100 percent, if only for budgetary reasons.
The first nearly $25 billion to bankroll technologies that can be used for Golden Dome was appropriated via the reconciliation law in July. However, as the first year of Trump’s second term ends, lawmakers from both parties say they have yet to receive the detailed spending plan they ordered the Pentagon to provide on that $25 billion. The law appropriates the funds only in broadly worded categories such as $7.2 billion for “space-based sensors.” A House Armed Services Committee aide said lawmakers “have zero on the cost” of the proposed system, which the aide said is still more a set of options than a concrete acquisition plan.
In interviews in December, lawmakers and aides have made clear they want clearer answers — and soon — about what this enormously complex and expensive endeavor entails. They have all been careful not to disclose classified information. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee panel that oversees missile defense programs, said he has yet to be told even the most basic elements of the proposal. “I want to know what it is they’re going to be deploying in the way of technology, how much it’s going to cost, what parts of the country are going to be protected, how those decisions are going to be made — I mean, that’s just for starters,” King said.
Defense panels still not clear on Golden Dome's attributes - Roll Call
Seven months after Trump announced a Golden Dome missile shield, lawmakers say they have yet to learn meaningful information about the plans.
Seven months after President Donald Trump announced plans for a Golden Dome missile shield for America, lawmakers who oversee the Pentagon say they have yet to learn meaningful information about the system’s attributes, cost or schedule.
Trump said in May that the system’s so-called architecture had been “officially selected.” It would be fielded within three years, he said, for a “total cost” of $175 billion. It would include satellite-launched interceptors. And it would protect America “close to 100 percent” from enemy ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles.
Such a system would be orders of magnitude more extensive and expensive than any previously executed, potentially a multitrillion-dollar proposition, experts have said. Few if any of them believe the capability Trump described can be accomplished on the schedule and at the cost he recounted. More likely, they say, is an initial iteration during this presidential term followed by improvements over many years — but ultimately far less defensive coverage than 100 percent, if only for budgetary reasons.
The first nearly $25 billion to bankroll technologies that can be used for Golden Dome was appropriated via the reconciliation law in July. However, as the first year of Trump’s second term ends, lawmakers from both parties say they have yet to receive the detailed spending plan they ordered the Pentagon to provide on that $25 billion. The law appropriates the funds only in broadly worded categories such as $7.2 billion for “space-based sensors.” A House Armed Services Committee aide said lawmakers “have zero on the cost” of the proposed system, which the aide said is still more a set of options than a concrete acquisition plan.
In interviews in December, lawmakers and aides have made clear they want clearer answers — and soon — about what this enormously complex and expensive endeavor entails. They have all been careful not to disclose classified information. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee panel that oversees missile defense programs, said he has yet to be told even the most basic elements of the proposal. “I want to know what it is they’re going to be deploying in the way of technology, how much it’s going to cost, what parts of the country are going to be protected, how those decisions are going to be made — I mean, that’s just for starters,” King said.
