Congress and the Pentagon have some real-world operational examples of such defense systems from which to draw inspiration.
During the annual address to Congress in March, President Donald Trump stated that an upgraded missile defense system to protect the U.S. was one of his highest priorities. At the time, Trump called it the “Golden Dome” missile defense system, and said that its goal would be to protect America from incoming missiles and other munitions.
In the months since, the work to develop the “Golden Dome” has already begun.
Building a Missile Defense System from the Ground Up
On Tuesday, the House Armed Services Committee moved forward with a multi-billion-dollar reconciliation bill that contained almost $25 billion for the Golden Dome project. Although many steps remain before the package becomes law and the Pentagon receives the money, the initiative shows that Congress is taking seriously the White House’s plan to upgrade U.S. air defenses.
Moving forward, Congress and the Pentagon still need to decide the composition of the Golden Dome umbrella and the ways it will achieve complete air defense, which is not elaborated in the budget request. For example, will the Golden Dome rely on kinetic interceptors—such as anti-aircraft missiles or fighter jets—or will it use non-kinetic interceptors, such as direct-energy weapons like lasers?
The Air Force expects to incorporate fighter jet squadrons into the Golden Dome’s layers of defense in order to ensure the best results. There are several Air Force and Air National Guard fighter jet squadrons peppered around the U.S. that are tasked with homeland defense. These squadrons primarily fly the F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning II, and F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets.
The Pentagon Can Learn from Other Missile Defense Systems
Luckily, Congress and the Pentagon have some real-world operational examples of such defense systems from which to draw inspiration.
Israel’s Iron Dome has been quite successful. Utilizing several layers of air defences, including anti-aircraft missiles, radars, fighter jets, and anti-drone systems, the Iron Dome has consistently ensured that whenever Israel comes under attack from its many regional foes, only a fraction of the incoming projectiles hit their targets. The defensive system calculates the path of the incoming ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, rockets, and suicide drones and prioritizes those that it estimates would do the most damage. By prioritizing the most lethal threats, the Iron Dome ensures that in the event of saturation, the damage would be kept to a minimum.
Of course, a capable adversary will always try to saturate an air defense system to increase the likelihood of munitions passing through the defense’s different layers and hitting their targets. One sees this approach in both sides of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Every time the Russian military launches a major long-range missile attack against Ukraine, it uses a combination of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and suicide drones launched from different platforms in order to overwhelm the Ukrainian air defenses and land the most hits. The Ukrainian Air Force—which uses some U.S. air defense systems, including the MIM-104 Patriot air defense battery—has had a good level of interception overall, but has consistently been unable to stop all such projectiles, leading to infrastructure damage and civilian casualties in major cities.
Although the Golden Dome air defense program has much ground to cover before it becomes operational, operational lessons from Israel’s Iron Dome and Ukraine’s air defense fight against Russian munitions can provide valuable insights to the Pentagon as it moves forward with its own upgraded air defense umbrella.
About the Author: Stavros Atlamazoglou
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Image: Shutterstock / VLADJ55.
