Trump's "Gold Dome" System, Cost Surges by 500%?
The same scenario of U.S. defense projects being approved first and then experiencing price hikes is happening again.
Recently, Bloomberg reported that although Congress passed a $25 billion funding bill this summer to build Trump's "Gold Dome" missile defense system, according to the latest assessment, the actual cost of the system could eventually reach as high as $1.1 trillion, which is more than 500% higher than Trump's own estimate of $17.5 billion.
The report states that even for defending against a single adversary, Russia's full-scale missile attack, the cost of the "Gold Dome" system would be as high as $844 billion. If it also plans to intercept missiles launched by other countries, the cost will only increase further.
In addition, Trump had claimed he hoped to see the "Gold Dome" system "fully operational" by the end of his term, but Bloomberg believes "this is almost impossible"—building this defense system would require manufacturing and launching thousands of interceptors, which is difficult to complete within just a few years.
In summary, according to the content of Bloomberg's report, Trump's "Gold Dome" missile defense system is more like a "distribution project" between Trump, the Pentagon, and arms manufacturers—last November, the U.S. Space Force awarded multiple contracts to several undisclosed defense contractors, each worth around $9 million.
Additionally, on December 2, the Missile Defense Agency under the Pentagon announced that it had selected about 1,000 companies to advance the "Gold Dome" project, and all selected companies are eligible to receive funding from an undistributed pool of $15.1 billion.
However, Bloomberg believes that the various targets set for the "Gold Dome" project were unrealistic from the beginning, and the project is almost impossible to continue after Trump leaves office.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1851640894089353/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.