Former President Trump announced his military plans in a speech on Monday, saying he would create a National Guard for a Space Force and build an “Iron Dome” on American soil.
Speaking at the National Guard Association conference in Detroit on Monday, President Trump touted the creation of a sixth branch of the U.S. military, the Space Force, which was established in 2019 to protect U.S. space assets from threats from Russia and China.
“One of my proudest accomplishments during my first term was creating the first new branch of the military in over 70 years, the Space Force. This is a big deal,” he said. “Now that Space Force is here, I agree with your leadership. You want this so badly. But I also agree that the time has come to create the Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve for the United States Space Force.”
The audience applauded, and Trump expressed his gratitude.
“As president, I’m going to sign historic legislation that will create the Space National Guard,” he continued. “And we’re going to do it. Space Force is very, very important. Very, very important.”
He argued that the United States was “losing” in space before the creation of the military, but with the creation of the military, the United States is now “leading every major indicator in space.”
The move comes months after the Biden administration proposed in April to incorporate the Air National Guard into the Space Force. The Pentagon asked Congress in March to overturn a current law that requires state governors to approve changes to National Guard units to allow hundreds of service members to transfer to the Space Force.
The proposal, which would affect about 1,000 Air National Guard troops, has drawn sharp criticism from nearly every U.S. governor and dozens of lawmakers, with disagreements stalling any solution for the reserves.
The former president then promised to build a missile defense system similar to Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system that can intercept short-range rockets over Israeli airspace.
“And we’re going to build a giant Iron Dome of missile defense around our country, and other countries say Israel has it.[former President] “Ronald Reagan wanted this years ago, but the technology wasn’t there then. But we have the technology now,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to build an Iron Dome-style system, saying on the campaign trail over the past year that he would strive to build “the best dome ever” because “there are a lot of hostile people out there.”
Experts told The Hill in May that the missiles would look different from Israel’s, could be expensive and would do little to stop the short-range missiles they were meant to protect against.
Experts argued that a more prudent goal would be to build an improved missile defense system with multiple layered systems that would work with some of the defenses the country already has in place.
In his speech on Monday, Trump slammed President Biden and Vice President Harris for overseeing “the erosion of American credibility and respect” in Afghanistan, three years after the bombing at Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. troops and more than 100 Afghans.
He called the withdrawal from Afghanistan “the most embarrassing day in American history.”
“It prompted Russia to invade Ukraine. It prompted the attack on Israel on October 7th, which caused us to lose respect. We are not respected,” Trump said.
