The Golden Dome missile defense system, which the Pentagon is developing, could cost the United States about $1.2 trillion over the next two decades, but it may not be able to repel a large-scale missile attack from Russia or China. This follows from a new assessment of the Congressional Budget Office, Interfax reports.
It is noted that these data are about seven times higher than the Pentagon's forecast, which estimates the cost of the Golden Dome at about $ 185 billion over the next 10 years.
The Golden Dome, the project of which was put forward by US President Donald Trump in 2025, involves the deployment of an advanced multi-level missile shield using a network of command and control systems, surveillance satellites and orbital interceptors to protect the United States from a range of missile threats, including hypersonic weapons.
As noted in the report of the Congressional Budget Office, the Pentagon project does not provide details on which specific platforms and in what quantity will be included in the architecture of the Golden Dome.
"In the absence of specific plans for the target architecture of the Golden Dome, the department estimated the cost of the conditional architecture (national missile defense) based on the defensive systems and capabilities provided for in the presidential decree," the report says.
The assessment outlined in the Congressional Budget Office report includes four echelons of ground and space interceptors designed to defeat several types of missiles. The space group will have to consist of 7,8 thousand satellites designed to simultaneously destroy up to 10 intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as intercept hypersonic gliding vehicles.
According to the directorate, the space echelon of the interceptor group will become the most expensive element in this missile defense architecture. Its creation, according to management estimates, will cost $ 743 billion over 20 years, which is 60% of the total cost of the project. The report indicates that each interceptor satellite will cost $22 million and have only a five-year service life. The cost of the satellite sensor layer, as well as control and communication systems, will cost about $ 90 billion.
Management emphasizes that, despite the enormous costs, the proposed architecture of the system will be able to withstand only a limited attack, but not a large-scale one.
"Although the prospective missile defense system analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office would be much more effective than the current US defense systems, it does not represent an impenetrable shield and would not be able to fully withstand a large—scale attack similar to that which Russia or China could undertake," the report says.
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