Golden Dome... why?

President Trump commented that it will cost approximately $175 billion over 3 years to build Golden Dome.

That’s a huge amount of money. To give you a clue, here is a comparative overview of major defense systems in order of development cost (excluding cost for long-term sustainment and upgrades)

- F-35 Lighting II: Over $400 billion

- Columbia-Class Submarine: Over $100 billion

- B-21 Radar: Nearly $100 billion

- THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense): Nearly $30 billion

Also, here are some of the federal programs experiencing notable budget cuts.

- CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention): Funding reduced from $9 billion in 2024 to

$4 billion in 2025

- NIH (National Institutes of Health): Slashed from $48 billion in 2025 to $27 billion in 2026

- NASA: Budget cut from $24.8 billion in 2025 to $18.8 billion in 2026

- UADA (Department of Agriculture): Terminated $660 million for school lunch

Golden Dome is a middle defense system aimed at protecting the US from missile threats through a network of space-based sensors and interceptors. While it drew inspiration from Israel’s Iron Dome, its scale and capabilities are unparalleled.

However, it is questionable whether if Golden Dome should be the US’s top defense priority. Israel built the Iron Dome because they were exposed to artillery attacks all the time. The US’s geography is very different from that of Israel – not to mention that it’s almost 450 times larger in size.

In short, building a WALL shouldn’t be the top priority. If someone ever decides to attack the US, they wouldn’t try to bomb the US. Instead, they would rather rely on indirect attacks such as biological weapon, supply chain attacks., cyber sabotage, propaganda, financial manipulation, terrorism, and drone attacks. They should invest in capabilities to counter such indirect attacks – meaning it should invest in infrastructure, education, medical services, and software.