The United States is spending nearly an entire annual military budget on a new missile defense system.
Author: Talib Aliyev, analyst, exclusively for Sangar
At the end of May 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. missile defense system (MDS) “Golden Dome” would cost the national budget approximately $175 billion, $25 billion of which had already been included in the budget reconciliation bill (One Big Beautiful Bill) and approved by Congress in July of the same year.
According to the document, the MDS budget for 2025 covers the following areas: development and integration of missile defense systems and sensors, multi-layered protection of U.S. territory, and other projects, excluding programs for defense against drones and tactical weapons.
However, on September 18, 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense reported that the cost of the “Golden Dome” could increase several times. The Congressional Budget Office is reviewing the new MDS within the framework of a Space-Based Interceptors system.
The document provides cost estimates ranging from a minimum of $161–264 billion to a higher-cost option of $542–831 billion. Four major U.S. defense companies – L3Harris, Northrop Grumman, RTX, and Lockheed Martin – as well as SpaceX, are competing for contracts to develop and implement the program.
The deployment of the “Golden Dome” system represents a costly project, especially in the scenario of the higher-cost deployment option, which is effectively comparable to the annual budget of the entire U.S. Department of Defense ($817 billion in 2024). Developing the program along this scenario would place significant financial pressure on the budgets of the U.S. and NATO member countries.
In turn, allocating such a substantial amount of funds will inevitably lead to an increase in U.S. national debt and cuts in other expenditure items, primarily social programs.
According to Western experts, the U.S. administration will try to shift part of the costs to NATO partners in exchange for their “coverage under a new missile umbrella.” For example, representatives of Lockheed Martin are already consulting with the U.K. government on the development of its air and missile defense systems and their integration with the U.S. future space project.
Given the complex economic situation in European countries and difficulties in allocating five percent of GDP to the NATO budget, the military-political leadership of European nations will inevitably face additional budgetary pressure and rising social discontent.
