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President Donald Trump’s plan to put weapons in space, called the \u201cGolden Dome for America\u201d missile defense program, is estimated to cost much more than he originally said<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n WASHINGTON — <\/span>WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 <\/p>\n President Donald Trump’s plan to put weapons in space \u2014 pitched as a “Golden Dome for America\u201d missile defense program<\/a> \u2014 is estimated to cost $1.2 trillion, according to a new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, a far heftier sum than the initial $175 billion price tag<\/a> he gave last year. <\/p>\n The nonpartisan CBO report, published Tuesday, is described as an analysis that reflects \u201cone illustrative approach rather than an estimate of a specific Administration proposal.”<\/p>\n The futuristic system was ordered by Trump in an executive order during his first week in office. He said then that he expected the system to be \u201cfully operational before the end of my term,\u201d which wraps up in January 2029. <\/p>\n \u201cOver the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems,\u201d Trump said in his executive order, justifying the need for the missile defense system. <\/p>\n