WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump will make an announcement on Tuesday about the Golden Dome missile defense program alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

If the plans come to fruition, it would mark the first time the U.S. has put weapons in space, making it possible to destroy an incoming missile during flight.

Space Force Vice Chief of Operations, Gen. Michael Guetlein, is expected to be put in charge of overseeing the project's progress.

Reuters reported in April that SpaceX was collaborating with software company Palantir and defense firm Anduril to submit a joint proposal for the project.

A source informed Reuters that the plan involves deploying between 400 and 1,000 satellites to monitor missile movements globally.

Additionally, the system would include 200 attack satellites equipped with missiles or lasers to neutralize threats.

The Pentagon has warned for years that the newest missiles developed by China and Russia are so advanced that updated countermeasures are necessary. Golden Dome's added satellites and interceptors — where the bulk of the program's cost is — would be focused on stopping those advanced missiles early on or in the middle of their flight.

During Trump's first week in office, he directed the Pentagon to pursue the space-based interceptors through an executive order.

"Over 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 and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities," Trump wrote.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated this month that just the space-based components of the Golden Dome could cost as much as $542 billion over the next 20 years. Trump has requested an initial $25 billion for the program in his proposed tax break bill, now moving through Congress.

_____

Editor's note: The National News Desk's Ryan Minnaugh and The Associated Press contributed to this article.