Iron Dome for America: Trump Orders Pentagon to Prioritize US Missile Defense System

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Trump wants to create a defensive iron dome over America, similar to the one used by Israel to defend itself against Hamas and Hezbollah rocket attacks.

Under a new executive order from the president, the Pentagon was given 60 days to come up with an initial plan for defending the country against a wide range of missile attacks.

"We protect other countries, but we don't protect ourselves. When Ronald Reagan wanted to do it many years ago we didn't have the technology, but now we have phenomenal technology," Trump said in January during a speech at the House Republican Retreat in Florida.

The order focuses on potential threats, including ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles plus other next-generation aerial attacks. Trump also specified the need for deploying new space-based sensors that would identify, track, and intercept missiles.

"Given the advance that hypersonic missiles and sophisticated cruise missiles, that Russia at least has aspirations of, that can circumnavigate the globe, these are fundamentally objectives that are worthy of conceptual study and also deployment," former Army General Jack Keane said when asked about the Iron Dome for America during a recent House Armed Services Committee hearing.

Deterrence is one of the primary goals of the new system – missile defenses that would make enemies question whether their first strike could hit its mark.

"What we're seeing now is because of the proliferation of threats, and it's everything from a drone to an ICBM... you have both state actors who are armed with these things, to include Russia, China, Iran, North Korea. All who could threaten the United States in different ways. And then non-state actors, terrorist groups, drug cartels, who can also have some weapons that we need defenses for. So I think this is going to be quite a comprehensive system," said Victoria Coates, a former deputy national security advisor during Trump's first term.

While cost would likely be one of the biggest roadblocks, several Republican lawmakers are already working on a funding package, and Coates points out that freeing up money for projects like this is a big benefit of the work being done by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

"We have to save money everywhere we can and put it towards what is vitally important. So those will be, you know, our social programs, Medicaid, Medicare, that kind of thing, but then also into our defenses," Coates said.

The Missile Defense Agency hopes to complete an initial phase by December of 2026, and then at least three more would follow in two-year intervals. This month the Pentagon plans to assess current tech capability with industry leaders. President Trump is calling for all components of this defense shield to be American-made.