According to the military news site Defense One, experts say Washington will face many major technological and financial challenges if the decree called Iron Dome for America is implemented.
The order, issued after President Donald Trump took office, aims to create a next-generation defense system, installed across the United States with the ambition of being able to protect people and infrastructure from any external attack.
However, experts see a gap between the idea and the reality right from the name “Iron Dome for America”. If taken literally, this suggests the use of the Iron Dome defense system, which is designed to protect areas of about 390 square kilometers from short-range threats.
Meanwhile, according to nuclear analyst Joe Cirincione, the continental United States covers an area of up to 9.6 million square kilometers, meaning that about 24,700 Iron Dome complexes would be needed to cover all of it. Each complex costs about $100 million to produce, Mr. Cirincione estimates the total budget for this plan will be about $2.47 trillion.
However, the expert still noted that despite its cost, this system is only effective against small and slow weapons and cannot intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
Laura Grego, a senior fellow at the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, described Trump's plan as "fantastical," stressing that intercepting ICBMs requires a completely different, much more complex system.
Experts acknowledge that the missile threat still exists in the context of China and Russia successfully developing advanced, highly maneuverable hypersonic missiles that are very difficult to intercept, but still affirm that the US cannot cope with existing defense systems, including Iron Dome.
