On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the creation of an “Iron Dome for America.”Depending on the kind of system that Mr. Trump envisions, it could be very expensive, although the cost of not building it could be catastrophic. An alternative to using only missiles is to employ a "layered" approach that includes lasers.
Mitch Kugler, who has worked on missile-defense policy and programs in the U.S. Senate and the defense industry since starting on the SDI program in 1988, wrote in our pages Tuesday that Trump’s order “calls for the application of the incredible advances in American technology since 1999 — among other things, increased and miniaturized computing power, reduced launch costs, and the application of sundry other commercial advances to national security needs — to finally make it a priority to put defenses in space; that’s where they will be most capable against longer-range threats.”
It is worth noting that Israel’s Iron Dome system is designed to shoot shorter-range incoming rockets, which are slower and traveling through the atmosphere, not intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Built by Raytheon Missiles & Defense teams with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Iron Dome is considered the most advanced and effective missile-defense system in the world. It is also one of the most expensive missile-defense systems in the world: “Each battery has radar, control equipment, and 3-4 missile launchers (each with 20 missiles) and costs $37 million to 50 million depending on how many missiles it is shipped with . . . if the computers predict a rocket coming down in an inhabited area one (or often two to be sure) $50,000 Tamir guided missiles are fired to intercept the rocket.”
According to Raytheon, “Ten Iron Dome batteries protect the citizens and infrastructure of Israel, with each battery comprising three to four stationary launchers, 20 Tamir missiles and a battlefield radar. Each of the batteries can defend up to nearly 60 square miles.”
You can do the math on that: Ten batteries protecting 60 square miles is 600 square miles.
Israel’s total landmass is more than 8,000 square miles, and each coast of the U.S. is hundreds of thousands of square miles. But when it comes to air defense, countries prioritize population centers and critical infrastructure, and the Iron Dome batteries are designed to only fire at rockets projected to hit a vulnerable area; it doesn’t go chasing after every rocket, if the likely landing area is unpopulated desert.
The laser component is called "Iron Beam" by the Israelis. Here’s how the Israeli manufacturer Rafael describes the system:
IRON BEAM is a 100kW class High Energy Laser Weapon System (HELWS) that is expected to become the first operational system in its class. It quickly and effectively engages and neutralizes a wide array of threats from a range of hundreds of meters to several kilometers. Engaging at the speed of light, IRON BEAM has an unlimited magazine, with almost zero cost per interception, and causes minimal collateral damage.Israel has said that Iron Beam should be integrated within the existing Iron Dome system “within a year.”
Complementing RAFAEL’s IRON DOME, it can be integrated with a range of platforms and can become part of any multilayer defense system.
Unfortunately, the U.S. lags far behind in developing such systems. Even so, a laser system would be far less expensive than a system based on interceptor missiles. Maybe we could get the Israelis to sell it to us.
Anyway, Geraghty has more on the topic at the link. Toward the end he adds this: "Every dollar spent on missile defense seems like a waste, right up until the minute a missile is fired at you. Then you wish you had spent a whole lot more." Indeed.
