Like Israel’s Iron Dome, the Golden Dome would clearly benefit America’s air defense strategy.
US president Donald Trump’s Golden Dome initiative may come to fruition sooner than expected. While some may question the requirement for an Americanized version of the Israeli air defense system, progress on the Golden Dome front continues to be made. Earlier this month, it was revealed that the Space Force’s vice chief of space operations, Gen. Michael Guetlein, will lead the hefty missile defense endeavor. According to a Pentagon statement released, Guetlein will represent the first Golden Dome for the American direct reporting program manager. “Golden Dome for America requires a whole-of-nation response to deter and, if necessary, to defeat attacks against the United States. We have the technological foundation, national talent, and decisive leadership to advance our nation’s defenses. We are proud to stand behind Gen. Mike Guetlein as he takes the helm of this national imperative,” the statement continued. As part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act passed in the House on July 17, the Golden Dome project will receive $13 billion on top of the $24.4 billion allocated in the One Big, Beautiful Bill, signed a few weeks earlier.
The administration’s push for an Iron Dome for American was first revealed by an executive order issued back in January. In order to more adequately protect the continental United States from the threat of ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, the order spelled out the necessity of fielding a next-generation missile defense shield. This “Golden Dome” initiative would essentially provide America with a much, much larger version of Israel’s infamous Iron Dome. Israel is roughly 400 times smaller than the United States, so the scale of the project would be unprecedented. Additionally, the Golden Dome would have to be more advanced than its Israeli counterpart, considering the kinds of sophisticated intercontinental ballistic missiles that China or Russia could theoretically launch toward America if a full-blown conflict were to emerge.
The Iron Dome
When it comes to air defense systems, the Iron Dome is arguably the most robust interceptor in existence. With a 90 percent effective track record, the bottom tier of Israel’s air defense apparatus is constantly in use. The Iron Dome was developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with US backing. Capable of intercepting and destroying short-range projectiles from a range of 2.5 miles to 90 miles, the Iron Dome has been highly effective in protecting Israel amidst barrages launched by its hostile neighbors. While the United States is not positioned as close to its adversaries as Israel, the Iron Dome’s basic function would similarly benefit America. If the Americanized Iron Dome is able to thwart the kinds of hypersonic long-range missiles fielded by Moscow and Beijing, it would obviously be an asset to America’s air defense strategy. However, some US officials are wary that the Golden Dome will not be as viable as proponents of the initiative would like to purport. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz) argued that “This idea, you know, might not be fully baked,” referring to the Golden Dome. Kelly, an engineer by trade, said this during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month. The senator added, “You’ve got to go back and take a look at this. … You could go down a road here and spend hundreds of billions of dollars of the taxpayers’ money, get to the end, and we have a system that is not functional.”
About the author: Maya Carlin
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has bylines in many publications, including The National Interest, The Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
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