(The Hill) — Former President Donald Trump said he would create a national guard for the Space Force and build an “Iron Dome” in the U.S. as he laid out his military plans during a Monday address.
Trump, speaking Monday at a National Guard Association of the U.S. conference in Detroit, touted the creation of the Space Force, the sixth branch of the U.S. military. It was established in 2019 to protect U.S. assets in space from threats from Russia and China.
“One of my proudest achievements in my first term was to create Space Force, the first new branch of the armed forces in over 70 years; it’s a big deal,” he said. “Now that Space Force is up and running, I agree with your leadership — you want this very badly — but I agree that the time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force.”
The comment prompted a round of applause from the audience, and Trump thanked them.
“So as president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard,” he continued. “So, we’re going to do that. Space Force has been very important, very, very important.”
He argued that the U.S. was getting “destroyed” in space prior to the creation of the military branch, but thanks to its creation, the country is now “leading with all of the major metrics in space.”
It comes months after the Biden administration in April proposed incorporating Air National Guard service members into the Space Force. In March, the Defense Department asked Congress to override an existing law requiring governors to approve changes to National Guard units to allow hundreds of members to shift to the Space Force.
The proposal, which would have impacted about 1,000 Air National Guard members, drew sharp criticism from nearly every U.S. governor and dozens of lawmakers. Disagreement has stalled any solution on such a reserve service.
The former president later pledged to build an antimissile system similar to Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, which is capable of intercepting short-range rockets in the air above the state.
“And we’re going to build a great Iron Dome for missile defense around our nation. Other countries have said Israel has it. You know, (former President) Ronald Reagan wanted this many years ago, but we didn’t have the technology at that point. But now we have the technology,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to create an Iron Dome-style system, stating on the campaign trail over the past year he would work to build “the greatest dome of them all” due to “a lot of hostile people out there.”
Some experts told The Hill in May it would likely look different than Israel’s and would come with a hefty price tag, and they said it would be of little use in stopping short-range missiles it’s meant to protect against.
Experts argued that a more sensible goal could be an improved missile shield with several layered systems that work with several protections the country already has in place.
During Monday’s speech, Trump also slammed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for overseeing a “collapse of American credibility and respect” in Afghanistan on the three-year anniversary of a bombing at the Kabul airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans.
He called the Afghanistan withdrawal the “most embarrassing day in the history” of the U.S.
“It gave us Russia going into Ukraine. It gave us the Oct. 7 attack on Israel because it gave us a lack of respect. We’re not respected,” Trump said.