— 🇺🇸 NEW: President Trump says he will instruct his cabinet to prepare the construction of an ‘Iron Dome’ defense system in the United States, like in Israel

Once again, this shows that Donald Trump has no clue what he’s talking about. He probably saw Israel’s air defenses, heard the word ‘Iron Dome’ and thought ‘YES, I WANT THAT!’, but that’s not how it works.

First of all, the ‘Iron Dome’ is not the generic name of a network of air defense systems, it’s one specific system, which operates in unison with other missile defense platforms.

The Israeli Iron Dome platform is meant to counter short-range rockets, missiles and artillery. It was specifically designed to help defend Israel from Hezbollah, Hamas and other armed groups on its borders, which mostly use short-range non-ballistic rockets.

For any medium to long-range projectiles and ballistic missiles, Israel uses other defense systems, such as the Arrow-2, Arrow-3, and David Sling.

When Trump says he wants to build an ‘Iron Dome’, he’s probably talking about a more generic and long-range missile defense system. Because the Iron Dome would be almost totally useless in the US, as there are no armed groups on its borders that pose a significant threat in terms of short-range rockets and artillery.

Besides, the United States is far too big to cover it with such an extensive missile defense network as Israel. Trump just heard a buzzword and now he wants to do it. That’s how things will be from now on.

@Middle_East_Spectator