Trump orders 'new iron dome' defense shield, vows military changes
President Donald Trump signed an order on Monday mandating the construction of a "new generation missile defense shield" designed to protect the United States from advanced missiles. He also decided to reinstate soldiers who were opposed to COVID-19 vaccinations.
Trump signed three new military-related decrees during a flight on Air Force One from Florida to Washington.
The U.S. "Iron Dome": here are the details
As he suggested a few hours earlier during a speech to Republican congressmen in Miami, the new missile defense system is intended to resemble Ronald Reagan's initiative known as "Star Wars", which aimed to use lasers to intercept missiles in space. Trump stated that Reagan’s project failed due to insufficiently advanced technology, but added that "now we have phenomenal technology."
The new shield will be named "Iron Dome," but it is meant to be different from the American-Israeli short-range air defense system bearing the same name. The system aims to protect against "ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles as well as other new-generation aerial attacks." The timeline for constructing such a shield and how it will differ from the current layered system protecting American skies remains unclear.
Alongside the "Iron Dome," Trump also signed decrees banning military service for transgender individuals, addressing "extreme leftist indoctrination" in the military, and reinstating soldiers discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. As announced by the new Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, these soldiers will be reinstated to their previous ranks and receive back pay. The vaccination mandate for coronavirus was lifted back in 2023, and as noted by the AP agency, only 43 of the 8,000 discharged soldiers returned to service at that time.
