Trump unveils $175-billion plan for Golden Dome, says Canada will have to pay if they want to be covered

President Donald Trump unveiled the plans for his Golden Dome, partly inspired by Israel's Iron Dome, and announced that the $175 billion project will be operational by the end of his term. The president announced that Space Force General Michael Guetlein will oversee the project. Gen Guetlein is currently vice chief of space operations at Space Force.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said the system would consist of "next-generation" technologies across land, sea and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors.

Canada wants to be covered but they will have to pay

Trump said Canada was interested in participating in the dome project. During a visit to Washington earlier this year, then-Canadian defence minister Bill Blair acknowledged that Canada was interested in participating in the dome project, arguing that it "makes sense" and was in the country's "national interest". Trump said Canada would have to pay to be included.

Golden Dome would be many times larger than Iron Dome

With a success rate of 100 per cent, Golden Dome will be many times larger. It will be designed to combat a wider range of threats, including hypersonic weapons able to move faster than the speed of sound and fractional orbital bombardment systems - also called Fobs - that could deliver warheads from space.

Trump said the project will cost around $175 billion and be built over the next three years, though those are both just estimates. The initial $25 billion will be included in the "big beautiful bill" working its way through Congress, Trump said.

Trump said President Reagan had wanted to build something similar during the Cold War "but they didn't have the technology." But now US has the technology and it's a necessity and the world out there is pretty evil, Trump said.