President Trump orders planning for ‘Iron Dome’ missile shield for US

Kathmandu: President Donald Trump on Monday, signed an executive order to start planning for an “Iron Dome” air defense system for the United States.

President Trump ordered the defense secretary to submit within 60 days an implementation plan for the next generation missile defense shield designed to guard against ballistic, hypersonic and advanced cruise missiles, including by the development of space-based interceptors.

During the 2024 election campaign Trump repeatedly promised to build a version of Israel’s Iron Dome system for the United States. However, he ignored the fact that the system is designed for short-range threats, making it ill-suited to defend against intercontinental missiles that are the main danger to the United States.

President Trump earlier told a Republican congressional retreat in Miami that the system would be built in the United States.

Israel has used its “Iron Dome” system to shoot down rockets fired by its regional foes Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon during the war sparked by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. ‘They knock down just about every one of them’ said Trump in the Miami meeting.

RSS/AFP