President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday instructing the military to begin building an “Iron Dome” for the United States.
The order directs the military to do “a review of theater missile defense posture to defend United States troops deployed abroad and an increase in cooperation on missile defense technology development, capabilities, and operations with partners and allies.”
The White House said the executive order was necessary to provide for “the common defense of American citizens,” and would “accelerates the development and deployment of Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor Layers, proliferated space-based interceptors, a Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, capabilities to defeat salvoes prior to launch, non-kinetic missile defense capabilities, and underlayer and terminal-phase intercept capabilities.
According to the executive order, the United States is under threat of attack by ballistic, cruise ad hypersonic missile systems and that over the next four decades that threat would become more complex. The order said that the country’s homeland missile defense policy has focused on “staying ahead of rogues nation threats and accident or unauthorized missile launches.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, applauded the move.
“I’m thrilled to see President Trump prioritize the modernization and expansion of U.S. missile defense,” he said in a statement. “In the FY24 NDAA, our committee removed outdated policy limitations that prevented our missile defenses from being focused towards threats by near-peer adversaries. President Trump’s order makes it clear our missile defenses will be oriented to defend against all threats from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries reality.”