Free Buyers Guide<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The new head of the armed forces mentioned the missile defence shield policy in passing, and without any details, listing his agenda for the military upon entering the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Department of Defense (DoD), on 27 January 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, there are more executive orders coming that we fully support, on\u00a0removing DEI\u00a0inside the Pentagon, reinstating troops who were pushed out because of COVID mandates, the Iron Dome for America.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is Iron Dome?<\/h2>\n
Iron Dome\u00a0is a mobile, multi-mission air defence system developed by Rafael, an Israeli state-owned defence company. Although, the US was a\u00a0partner in the system\u2019s development, and continues to develop the short-range interceptor with Israel today.<\/p>\n
The all-weather system protects the population and critical assets, most famously in Israel at a national level alongside David\u2019s Sling as well as Arrow-2 and 3 systems.<\/p>\n
With a range between 4 and 70 kilometres (2.4 and 43 miles), Iron Dome is said to have more than a 90% interception rate of various threats from rockets, artillery, mortar, uncrewed air vehicles, air-breathing threats, and dense salvos.<\/p>\n
Building a \u201cmissile defense shield\u201d<\/h2>\n
It should be understood that the policy was only mentioned in passing. At the time, no further details were given regarding what this network of air defence systems might look like when applied to protect the United States.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, in his opening remarks at the Pentagon, Hegseth assured that \u201cthis is happening quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Traces of this policy, however, stretch back to the Republican Party\u00a02024 manifesto<\/a>, which included, among other things, \u201cbuilding an Iron Dome missile defense shield.\u201d<\/p>\n This will prove to be a complicated task when we consider the fact that Israel, home of the Iron Dome, is only\u00a0slightly larger<\/a>\u00a0than the state of New Jersey.<\/p>\n It would be more difficult to protect the US landmass, and that is without Alaska and Hawaii \u2013 which are, together, larger than the contiguous US \u2013 as well as its dependencies (Pacific Islands, Puerto Rico, etc.) which alone make up 17,000 square miles.<\/p>\n Although unable to determine specific details regarding the overall cost, the number of systems, and the timeline for the shield\u2019s deployment, a DoD spokesperson told\u00a0Army Technology<\/em>:<\/p>\n \u201cThe department received the executive order late last night [28 January] and will immediately begin reviewing its requirements and working across the DoD to develop a reference architecture, capabilities-based requirements, and an implementation plan for the next-generation missile defense shield for the Secretary of Defense as outlined in the order.\u201d<\/p>\n These three solutions will be put forward to the President within 60 days of the\u00a0executive order<\/a>. In particular, the order stipulates that this next-generation missile defence shield will counter ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks.<\/p>\n Jointly with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Defense Secretary will also submit to the President a plan to fund this directive, allowing sufficient time for consideration by the President before finalisation of the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget.<\/p>\n According to GlobalData intelligence, the\u00a0\u2018Global Missiles\u00a0& Missile Defense Systems Market\u2019<\/a>\u00a0(2024) is anticipated to register a compound annual growth rate of 5.3%, growing from $45.5bn in 2024\u00a0to $76bn by 2034.<\/p>\n The market is expected to be dominated by the Platform-based Missile Defence System segment, which accounts for 33.8% of the market, followed by the Anti-Air Missiles with 26.4% share.<\/p>\n Since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine over the last three years, Europe has responded with procuring air and missile defence systems. France has acquired\u00a0SAMP\/T NG\u00a0systems; Netherlands,\u00a0the Patriot<\/a>; while the UK lately called back\u00a0one of its six Sky Sabre systems\u00a0from Poland, which was deployed there since April 2022.<\/p>\n A new versatile system known as\u00a0Gravehawk\u00a0has also been developed from a British design, and jointly financed with Denmark, for use in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Moreover, European nations have also begun efforts to integrate their air defence networks at the continental level with the European Sky Shield Initiative. Even neutral countries such as\u00a0Austria and Switzerland\u00a0have joined the effort.<\/p>\n This will, of course, bode well for the US which now seeks to implement a similar concept on such a wide scale.<\/p>\n The main threat to the US would be, and has already proven to be, adversarial Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR).<\/p>\n Two years ago, the People\u2019s Republic of China deployed an ISR payload onto what seemed to be a\u00a0spy balloon<\/a>. The aerial vehicle travelled over sensitive American sites, including Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, where the US stores some of its nuclear assets. An F-22 Raptor \u201csafely shot down\u201d the craft over South Carolina waters.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.army-technology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/01\/Hegseth-and-Brown-walking.jpg\")
Global missile defence procurement increases<\/h2>\n
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Is Iron Dome the best air defence choice for the US?<\/h2>\n