President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create an Iron Dome-like missile defense system over the United States.
The order lists the threats posed by “ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks.”
“President Ronald Reagan endeavored to build an effective defense against nuclear attacks, and while this program resulted in many technological advances, it was canceled before its goal could be realized,” the order says. “And since the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and initiated development of limited homeland missile defense, official United States homeland missile defense policy has remained only to stay ahead of rogue-nation threats and accidental or unauthorized missile launches.”
To “provide for the common defense” of U.S. citizens, the nation will maintain a next-generation missile defense shield that will defend critical infrastructure and “guarantee its secure second-strike capability.”
The system similar to Israel’s Iron Dome will include “proliferated space-based interceptors capable of boost-phase intercept,” “underlayer and terminal-phase intercept capabilities postured to defeat a countervalue attack,” and “non-kinetic capabilities to augment the kinetic defeat of ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks.”
Prior to signing the executive order, Trump said during a dinner in Florida that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is what we need to immediately begin the construction of a state-of-the-art Iron Dome missile defense shield, which will be able to protect Americans.”
“And now we have phenomenal technology. You see that with Israel,” Trump added. “So I think the United States is entitled to that. And everything will be made right here in the USA 100%.”
