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President Donald Trump speaks about Golden Dome in the Oval Office of the White House in May of this year.
Alex Brandon/AP
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Alex Brandon/AP
President Donald Trump speaks about Golden Dome in the Oval Office of the White House in May of this year.
Alex Brandon/AP
This year, President Trump requested funding from Congress for a “Golden Dome for America” — a missile defense system that would protect all of the United States.
The idea comes from Israel’s Iron Dome — a network of interceptor missiles stationed at points across the country. Iron Dome and related Israeli air defenses don’t get every missile fired — including some launched in the past few days by Iran — but the Israeli military says it has intercepted thousands of rockets since it was built.
And building a Golden Dome in the U.S. wouldn’t be easy.
Israel is over four hundred times smaller than America. And Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies who tracks missile programs, says the kinds of missiles that would attack the U.S. are very different than the ones used to strike Israel.
He says, compared to Iron Dome, building a Golden Dome is “the difference between a kayak and a battleship.”
Read more of Geoff Brumfiel’s reporting on this topic and find NPR’s coverage of the Middle East here.
Questions about nuclear science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
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This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Geoff Brumfiel and Rebecca Ramirez checked the facts. The audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.
