(The Center Square) – The general leading President Donald Trump's ambitious Golden Dome missile shield said a key part of the program, with uncertain costs, could be scrapped in favor of lower-cost options as lawmakers turn their focus to the president's proposed $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget for 2027.
A recent hearing revealed the Golden Dome project's costs remain deeply uncertain over time. The administration's fiscal year budget seeks $17.5 billion for Golden Dome, but $17.1 billion of that hinges on a reconciliation package that may never pass, leaving the program's funding on shaky ground. About $398 million would come from the Pentagon's budget, while the White House is asking Republicans to pass the rest through the party-line reconciliation process.
Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein said the missile shield's proposed space-based interceptors could be ditched if they aren't affordable. He said building and using armed satellites to shoot down enemy missiles early in flight may never be affordable.
"What we do not know today is 'Can I do it at scale and can I do it affordably?' That’s going to be the huge challenge for boost-phase intercept," he told the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee. "I will tell you because we are so focused on affordability. If we cannot do it affordably, we will not go into production."
Guetlein said it hasn't been well understood in the past.
"So if boost phase intercept from space is not affordable and scalable, we will not produce it because we have other options to get after it."
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., noted nearly all of the Golden Dome funding depends on the reconciliation bill passing.
"Funding for both of these critical initiatives, interceptor procurement and Golden Dome, is part of the department's $350 billion mandatory spending request, which depends on the outcome of a broader political process that is less predictable," he noted
The missile shield will cost taxpayers billions of dollars. To date, the government appropriated about $22.9 billion for the project. Guetlein said the total cost of the Golden Dome through delivery in 2035 is estimated at about $185 billion. However, other estimates have put the costs much higher.
In May 2025, the Congressional Budget Office estimated costs could range from $161 billion to $542 billion, with lower launch costs, though original estimates put the upper range as high as $831 billion. Todd Harrison, of the American Enterprise Institute, noted the challenges in estimating, but concluded that a "system that protects against the full range of aerial threats posed by peer and near-peer adversaries could cost $3.6 trillion, and even then, it would fall short of the '100 percent' effectiveness" in a September 2025 working paper.
U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., asked Guetlein about those studies.
"When we start talking about the different cost estimates, the first thing I always say is they're not estimating what I'm building. They are estimating the modernization or the continuation of the legacy systems that we already have, and they just take the cost of a legacy system, multiply it out, and they get these really large numbers," he said. "That's not what Golden Dome is doing. Golden Dome is doing business differently."
He added, "We are laser-focused on affordability. So the difference in the architectures is that they are just not estimating what I am building."
Guetlein said the project will be operational enough to protect the U.S. by the summer of 2028, before the end of Trump's second term in office.
Guetlein is the director of Golden Dome, reporting directly to the Deputy Secretary of War.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., raised questions about the feasibility of Trump's Golden Dome project.
"Mr. Trump's version of the Golden Dome is just not the truth," he said. "Experts from both sides of the aisle have admitted this, both from a technical and fiscal perspective. It's impossible to defend all of the United States from any kind of threat that could be launched at us."
While Moulton said he didn't like the Golden Dome, he insisted on the need for missile defense.
"I will certainly be an advocate for more missile defense on the homeland than we have today," he added.
Debate over the program's costs continues. On Tuesday morning, the Pentagon will hold a budget briefing, where the Department of War's acting comptroller and senior budget officials are expected to address questions about the fiscal 2027 spending request, with Golden Dome's funding in the spotlight. Additional briefings for the Army, Navy and Air Force are scheduled throughout the day.
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