Billions of {dollars} in funding for 2 of the Trump administration’s signature nationwide safety drives—the Golden Dome missile protect and a push to ramp up drone manufacturing—aren’t being disbursed, in line with a Protection Division doc obtained by International Coverage.
U.S. President Donald Trump in Might hailed spending on the Golden Dome, promising that his administration can be “endlessly ending the missile risk to the American homeland.”
Billions of {dollars} in funding for 2 of the Trump administration’s signature nationwide safety drives—the Golden Dome missile protect and a push to ramp up drone manufacturing—aren’t being disbursed, in line with a Protection Division doc obtained by International Coverage.
U.S. President Donald Trump in Might hailed spending on the Golden Dome, promising that his administration can be “endlessly ending the missile risk to the American homeland.”
Regardless of the technical challenges, together with placing counter-missile weapons into area, he additionally promised a fast turnaround of simply three years, or earlier than his second time period is up. Trump has put the price tag at $175 billion, whereas different estimates have put it significantly increased.
To fund this system, Trump introduced $25 billion in spending on the initiative as a part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed final 12 months.
The Protection Division doc, nonetheless, exhibits that as a lot as $14 billion in spending for area capabilities related to Golden Dome are “pending approval” from the Workplace of Administration and Finances (OMB), which releases federal funds.
That features $7.2 billion for space-based sensors; $3.6 billion for navy satellites and their safety; $2 billion for separate, targeting-related navy satellites; $800 million for next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile protection programs; $350 million for area command-and-control programs; and $125 million for area communication programs.
The funding holdup may delay fielding Golden Dome on the bold schedule proposed by Trump, stated Todd Harrison, a senior fellow on the American Enterprise Institute. “On condition that we’re almost midway by means of the fiscal 12 months, it will likely be tough to make use of a lot of this cash for [fiscal year] 2026, which suggests the allocations will carry ahead to [fiscal year] 2027,” Harrison stated.
The Protection Division has additionally made the acquisition of drones a serious precedence, with Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth promising to unleash “drone dominance.” Nevertheless, $1.5 billion in funds for small drone vessels and $2.1 billion for medium drone vessels stay locked away pending approval, in line with the doc.
It’s unclear why OMB has held up funding, though it factors to a disagreement between OMB and the Protection Division on the right way to finest allocate the cash, Harrison stated. The Protection Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Requested for remark, OMB communications director Rachel Cauley stated, “[T]his shouldn’t be true, whomever is telling you that is misinformed. It’s not a secret the place the White Home is on the coverage of competitors and sole-source contracts.”
International Coverage’s preliminary question didn’t ask about competitors or sole-source contracts. International Coverage subsequently requested Cauley if she was saying that the funding shouldn’t be particularly being withheld associated to issues that the Golden Dome or drone-contracting course of is not going to be aggressive.
She responded, “Most of that cash isn’t being held in any respect. It’s full rubbish.”
No less than one of many strains that’s at the moment pending approval is a $2 billion allocation for an “air transferring goal indicator” satellite tv for pc system. SpaceX was set to win that contract, the Wall Avenue Journal previously reported. Golden Dome has beforehand come beneath public scrutiny over a bid by SpaceX, Anduril, and Palantir to construct the system.
Rachel Oswald contributed to this report.
This publish is a part of FP’s ongoing protection of the Trump administration. Observe alongside here.
