The Government Accountability Office estimated in June that the full cost of developing and deploying the Sentinel ICBM, slated to replace the Minuteman III missiles that have remained on watch since 1970, will balloon to "approximately $170 billion" after the Air Force realized the new missiles could not use legacy Minuteman III silos.

US President Donald Trump has suggested that Doge, the cost-cutting agency Elon Musk helped set up, could be used to hurt the billionaire's companies - as the former allies continue their public dispute over Trump's budget plans.

The feud between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk is still on the front-burner — with Trump saying he will “take a look” at whether the U.S. will deport the South African-born tech billionaire. Trump and Musk were one-time close political allies before they had a major rift over the Trump-backed congressional spending bill,