Golden Dome Could Leave U.S. Vulnerable to Drone Attacks Without Israeli Systems

EXCLUSIVE: As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets President Donald Trump in Washington for talks expected to center on Iran and regional security, a new report is urging the administration to expand U.S.–Israel defense cooperation by making Israeli air-defense technology a central component of the Golden Dome, the planned layered missile shield intended to detect, track and intercept ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons and drones before they can strike the United States.

The report warns that the planned American missile shield could leave U.S. cities, military installations and critical infrastructure exposed to increasingly common drone and cruise-missile threats if Washington directs too much money toward costly space-based systems that could take years to become operational.

The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) report, titled “The Missing Shield: Acquiring Israeli Air Defenses Makes Golden Dome Sustainable,” argues that the initiative’s current funding priorities favor strategic and space-based capabilities that could take years to develop while giving insufficient attention to more frequent, lower-altitude threats such as drones, cruise missiles and shorter-range projectiles.

Ari Cicurel, the report’s author, told Fox News Digital that long-range defenses remain necessary but should not come at the expense of systems capable of stopping threats that could reach the United States now.

“Right now, the current approach is spending the time and money primarily on space, long-range threats, which are absolutely needed,” Cicurel said. “But the most frequent and immediate threats are actually short-range projectiles, particularly drones.”

Cicurel pointed to recent drone activity over American cities, including Washington, D.C., as evidence that the danger is not confined to overseas battlefields.

“We’ve seen several drone overflights of cities, including in Washington, D.C., over the past few months,” he said. “And that’s certainly the most frequent threat that the U.S. needs to be addressing.”

The report estimates that the Israeli-designed launchers it examined are 58% to 88% less expensive, interceptors 19% to 97% less expensive and radars 32% to 87% less expensive than the U.S. systems used for comparison. JINSA argues those savings could allow the Pentagon to purchase more launchers, expand interceptor stockpiles and preserve funding for expensive strategic and space-based technologies.

The Pentagon told Fox News Digital that Golden Dome is being designed as a layered system capable of addressing a broad range of threats.

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