Constructing an American version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system will require much better missile-detection technology, the head of U.S. Northern Command said Thursday.
The Trump administration’s renewed focus on air defense dovetails with warnings that leaders of NORTHCOM, and sister command North American Aerospace Defense, have sounded about U.S. detection capabilities in recent years, Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
“You can’t defeat what you can’t see, and the adversaries have an increasing capability of reaching us and threatening us from ranges beyond what some of our current systems can detect and track,” Giullot told lawmakers. Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 “Iron Dome for America” executive order instructs the Pentagon to speed up the development of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor layer and network it with other missile-detection systems reaching down to the bottom of the ocean. The order also called for new interceptors, including ones based in space, to augment today’s round-Based Interceptor.
With new funding, the Pentagon would need less than a year to network undersea, ground, and space sensors into a single grid, which is “the first capability that we think will reliably and accurately track hypersonic missiles” and is needed “immediately,” Guillot said.
The commander’s visit to Capitol Hill is part of the Defense Department’s push to defend its 2026 budget request. The Trump administration has yet to release its spending proposal to Congress; new administrations often take a few extra months to do so.
The Missile Defense Agency is also developing what it calls the Next Generation Interceptor, which was originally scheduled for full operation in 2028, but has since slipped to 2035.
Multiple senators voiced concern that NGI’s timeline needs to get back on track.
“And you also have my full commitment to work to move all defense industrial base capabilities … to bring these capabilities earlier, as our adversaries are advancing their capability, and we must keep pace,” Guillot said.
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