CBO: Potential Costs of a National Missile Defense System

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Report, May 12, 2026.*

CBO estimates that a national missile defense system possessing capabilities broadly consistent with those in the “The Iron Dome for America” executive order would cost about $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy, and operate for 20 years.

SUMMARY:

This report provides the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of the potential costs of a national missile defense (NMD) system. The analysis is based on the objectives laid out in the President’s executive order titled “The Iron Dome for America.” The Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) implementation of that order—an initiative now called the Golden Dome for America (GDA)—is in the early stages. Although documents from DoD’s budget request for the 2027 fiscal year provide five-year projections of funding plans for GDA, details about what and how many systems will be deployed—the “objective architecture”—have not been released, making it impossible to estimate the long-term cost of the GDA system being contemplated by DoD. In the absence of specific plans for GDA’s objective architecture, CBO has estimated the cost of a notional NMD architecture based on the defensive systems and capabilities that are called for in the executive order.

A national missile defense system possessing capabilities broadly consistent with those outlined in the executive order would cost about $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy, and operate for 20 years, CBO estimates. (All costs in this report are expressed in 2026 dollars.) CBO’s notional NMD system is organized into four interceptor layers: a space-based layer, two wide-area surface layers (an upper layer and a lower layer), and a surface-based regional sector layer. The NMD system also includes additional sensors, communication systems, and battle management systems to coordinate collective action among the layers. The layered structure of the overall system would provide the capacity to simultaneously engage multiple missiles launched by an adversary. Each layer would be able to operate independently if interaction with national command and control was disrupted.

Of the $1.2 trillion amount, acquisition costs for the notional NMD system would total just over $1 trillion. That amount includes costs for the system’s major components—namely, the interceptor layers and a space-based missile warning and tracking system. It also includes costs for general, ongoing research and development and for improvements in the system’s integration and performance. Annual operating costs would include the compensation of the additional personnel needed to run the system as well as the maintenance, repair, and periodic upgrades to the equipment. The most expensive component is the space-based interceptor layer, which accounts for about 70 percent of acquisition costs and 60 percent of total costs.

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*Established in 1974, The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government. It is charged with providing members of Congress objective analysis of budgeting and economic issues to support the congressional budget process. Each year, CBO economists and budget analysts produce dozens of reports and hundreds of cost estimates for proposed legislation