Iron Dome unsuitable as missile shield for US or Europe, officials say
By Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo
Feb 20, 2025, 12:43 PM
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Creating an Iron Dome defensive umbrella for the United States or Europe, modeled after Israel’s eponymous system, would be unsuitable against the threat of long-range missiles, according to industry executives here at the IDEX defense fair.
The assessment follows plans by the Trump administration to field such a system under the Iron Dome label. The U.S. president signed an executive order to that effect last month, with the goal of thwarting ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles.
While the idea quickly gained momentum among Republican lawmakers who introduced the Iron Dome Act on Feb. 6, it has also come under criticism by experts and industry officials who argue that deploying such a system would be unrealistic given what it was designed for.
“Iron Dome for America is a bad name for it — what about Titanium Dome?” Dave Alexander, the president of drone maker General Atomics quipped in an interview on the IDEX trade show floor.
https://www.defensenews.com/global/mideast-africa/2025/02/20/iron-dome-unsuitable-as-missile-shield-for-us-or-europe-officials-say/
