On Monday President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the development of a comprehensive missile defense shield to protect the American homeland against aerial attack.
The system, named Iron Dome after Israel’s anti-missile system, is expected to be able to defend against “ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles and other advanced aerial attacks”.
The U.S. Iron Dome will help ensure America’s ‘second strike capability’, allowing the U.S. to strike second, after an adversary attacks the U.S. first.
“Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense shall: (a) Submit to the President a reference architecture, capabilities-based requirements, and an implementation plan for the next-generation missile defense shield,” the executive order said.
The technical requirements are said to include a hypersonic and ballistic tracking space sensor layer, proliferated space-based interceptors capable of boost-phase intercept, capabilities to defeat missile attacks prior to launch and in the boost phase, non-kinetic capabilities to augment the kinetic defeat of ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and other next-generation aerial attacks among many other technical specifications listed in the order.
“Currently, if the U.S. had to intercept an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) heading for American soil, it would have an ad-hoc approach,” Newsweek said Tuesday. “The U.S. currently has 44 Ground-Based Interceptors (GBIs) deployed around the country—40 are in silos in Alaska, with another four at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of its Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system. Around 2028, the Pentagon is expected add 20 Next Generation Interceptors, or NGIs, to the 44 GBIs.”
Notably, Russia has recently deployed an advanced missile system which some have referred to as a ‘super-weapon’.
In line with Trump’s agenda of defense, the President has also set the stage to reduce the scale of potential future conflicts. Trump recently spoke of his interest in denuclearization soon after assuming office.
