Among President Donald Trump’s many executive orders since returning to office is one that requires a plan for “The Iron Dome for America” to be created by late March. Could this style of missile defense system make the U.S. safer?
Experts have a range of opinions on the matter.
“There’s always a concern now that you have more and more missiles. You can have the most sophisticated technological system, but it could just be overwhelmed by sheer mass,” CBS News military analyst Jeff McCausland explained in a recent interview with Audacy station KCBS Radio, for instance. “So, it’s a question of technology as well as mass.”
What is an Iron Dome?
Per the U.S. military, the Iron Dome “is a mobile all-weather air defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries.”
It is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 2.5 miles to 43 miles away. The system, installed in Israel, was declared operational in March 2011 and intercepted a rocket launcher from Gaza the following month. By March of 2012, the Iron Dome reportedly shot down 90% of rockets launched from Gaza headed for populated areas in Israel and as of October 2014 it had intercepted more than 1,200 rockets.
“Iron Dome is part of a future multi-tiered missile defense system that Israel is developing, which includes Arrow 2, Arrow 3, Iron Beam, Barak 8 and David’s Sling,” the U.S. military explained. According to its manufacturer, the system can address multiple threats simultaneously, operate day and night and under adverse weather conditions.
During the Israel-Hamas War, the dome has been successful at defending Israel against attacks.
What are Trump’s plans for an American Iron Dome?
“The United States will provide for the common defense of its citizens and the Nation by deploying and maintaining a next-generation missile defense shield,” said the president’s Jan. 27 executive order. To do this, he called on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to submit “reference architecture, capabilities-based requirements, and an implementation plan for the next-generation missile defense shield,” within 60 days,
Trump also referenced former President Ronald Reagan’s plan to build an effective defense against nuclear attacks, also known as “Star Wars” and noted that plan was “canceled before its goal could be realized.”
This isn’t the only time Trump has addressed the threat of nuclear war as war continues in the Middle East and nuclear power Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine. Last week, Trump said that he was interested in a nuclear peace agreement with Iran amid reports that the country is ramping up its nuclear program.
Republican lawmakers have also proposed legislation to go along with Trump’s executive order on the Iron Dome.
What are experts saying?
The Atlantic Council think tank said the recent success of the Iron Dome in Gaza “serves as a cautionary tale about what missile defense can achieve, what it should achieve, and where it falls short,” particularly its weakness concerning drones. Though missile defense is becoming more effective, its implementation is also becoming more complex, the think tank added.
McCausland noted that the U.S. already has a preliminary missile defense system, which is located in California and in Alaska, he said.
“This is to defend the United States from missile attacks from the Russian Federation coming over the polar ice caps, the potential threats from China, and now an emerging threat from North Korea,” said MCausland.
Of course, the U.S. is much larger than Israel, which brings up logistical questions about how to create an Iron Dome system that would cover the entire country (more than 3.8 million square miles). At least one expert, Dr. Laura Grego, research director and senior scientist for the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called the idea a “fantasy.”
“The apparent successes of Israel’s Iron Dome system are not relevant to U.S. homeland defense,” Grego said. “Iron Dome defends small areas from short-range nonnuclear missiles. It’s a vastly easier task than defending the whole country against missiles that travel 100 times further and seven times faster than those Iron Dome is built for.”
However, she agreed that Trump is “absolutely right... that nuclear weapons present a catastrophic threat,” and encouraged moves to promote nuclear disarmament.
Heather Williams, director of the Project on Nuclear Issues and Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ Defense and Security Department offered a view of Trump’s Iron Dome proposal as its own deterrent method.
“America just really needs to double down on deterrents,” she said.