That is letter edh, or eth. It’s a consonant in Old English, Old Norse and modern Icelandic that makes the th sound in “the.” There’s another letter thorn that makes the th sound in “thin.” Notice the difference between the two sounds.

I think there are some recycled concepts from Star Wars. Some other parts are specific upgrade projects that DoD has been wanting to do anyway, that are probably worthwhile. I think the remaining chunk will be shoveling money to grifters for pie in the sky Real Genius projects that never work.

I haven’t seen anyone seriously talking about actually using Iron Dome components for North American air defense. That’s a good thing. The geography and threat profile is completely different.