Trump’s Talk of US ‘Iron Dome’ Designed to ‘Psychologically Sooth’ Americans
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The GOP frontrunner vowed to create a “state of the art” Iron Dome-style missile defense shield at a rally in New Hampshire on Monday, harking back to Ronald Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ Strategic Defense Initiative program. Sputnik asked former DoD analyst Karen Kwiatkowski what the candidate’s calls for a new Iron Dome will mean in practice if realized.
Donald Trump has taken flak from legacy media for his description of a “Greatest Iron Dome” concept, with outlets excoriating him for the simplified language he used to explain how the idea works.
“I will build an Iron Dome over our country, a state-of the-art missile defense shield made in the USA,” Trump said in a speech to supporters in Laconia, New Hampshire on Monday, on the eve of Tuesday’s first in the nation Republican primary.
“We do it for other countries. We help other countries, we build, we don’t do it for ourselves,” Trump complained. “We need it too. You know Reagan proposed that many years ago – Star Wars. He proposed it many, many years ago, but at that time there was no technology, it was just like it looked good. But we have unbelievable technology. We shoot ‘em down and I’ve seen so many things. I’ve seen shots that you wouldn’t even believe,” Trump added, going on to describe the “geniuses” building the US advanced air defense systems.
“These are not muscle guys here,” Trump said, gesturing to his bicep, “they’re muscle guys up here,” he added, pointing to his temple. “And they calmly walk to us, and ding, ding, ding, ding, ding…They’ve only got 17 seconds to figure this whole thing out. Boom. Okay. Missile launch. Woosh. Boom! It’s the most unbelievable [thing] – and we don’t have it here, but we help other countries in have it.”
“We’re gonna have the greatest Iron Dome, let’s call it Iron Dome, and it’s gonna be manufactured, a lot of it right here in New Hampshire, actually, come to think of it,” Trump said, sending the crowd into an uproar of applause.
Israeli Air Defense System Built Using US Funds
Developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, the Iron Dome is a short-range all-weather Israeli air defense system designed to destroy rockets and artillery shells at distances between 4-70 km away. Funded to the tune of at least $2.6 billion worth of US taxpayer money, the Iron Dome is one of several in Israel’s dense air and missile defense network, which also includes the longer range Arrow and David’s Sling series systems.
The Israeli Iron Dome “is deployed to protect major cities of Israel from rocket attacks from its neighbors and Gaza, and it provides some comfort to the people living in those cities. This description alone explains why the US has not built or deployed such a system for the United States. The geography, the threat, the lack of rocket attacks likely from near the US border, and the expense make the Israeli model of the Iron Dome not feasible or useful for the US,” retired US Air Force L.t. Col. and former DoD analyst Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik, explaining why Trump’s comments should not be taken literally.
Instead, Kwiatkowski suggested, the former president’s remarks should be taken to imply “total advance protection from missile attacks from our stated enemies, with the assumption that these enemies would want to fire their missiles at American territory.”
“The concept is psychologically soothing, and Americans, like everyone, want peace and security. It fits with the popular Trump idea of spending our defense money on actual defense, rather than offense. It implies a change in our defense policy, something many in the country are ready for. Politically it sounds good, even if it would be a practical and financial failure if such a plan were actually pursued, even with advances in the technology,” the observer added.
15 May 2021, 17:37 GMT
Kwiatkowski pointed out that while Trump may sincerely believe that an “Iron Dome-style” missile defense system will be seen as a purely defensive system, the reality is that the concept may serve to fuel a global arms race, rather than resolve tensions through negotiations, trade, communication and peace with neighbors and the rest of the world.
Indeed, Moscow has expressed concerns about the concept of US missile defense going back to Reagan’s original Star Wars program in the 1980s, with the concept, together with the US withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2022, serving as one of the impetuses for the USSR and later Russia to develop and field hypersonic weapons.
President Putin unveiled half-a-dozen new Russian strategic weapons systems in 2018 including the Avangard hypersonic glider, the Poseidon nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed torpedo, the Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched missile system, the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Peresvet laser and the Burevestnik nuclear-powered torpedo. These systems, designed specifically to overpower all existing and prospective enemy air and missile defense systems, are designed to give Russia peace of mind in the knowledge that no adversary would be foolish or shortsighted enough to try to attack Russia without expecting guaranteed retaliation.
The Reagan and Bush administrations spent as much as $30 billion on the original Star Wars concept before the program was finally scrapped in 1993, with out of control defense spending in the 1980s helping to balloon the US national debt from about $995 billion in 1981 to over $4 trillion in 1992. That debt has now ballooned to over $34 trillion, or over 123 percent of US GDP, making Trump’s vision of the “Greatest Iron Dome” potentially difficult to realize.
