Elon Musk’s SpaceX and two partners have emerged as frontrunners to win a vital a part of President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense shield, six people conversant in the matter said.
Musk’s rocket and satellite company is partnering with software maker Palantir and drone builder Anduril on a bid to construct key parts of Golden Dome, the sources said, which has drawn significant interest from the technology sector’s burgeoning base of defense startups.
In his Jan. 27 executive order, Trump cited a missile attack as “essentially the most catastrophic threat facing the USA.”
All three corporations were founded by entrepreneurs who’ve been major political supporters of Trump. Musk has donated greater than 1 / 4 of a billion dollars to assist elect Trump, and now serves as a special adviser to the president, working to chop government spending through his Department of Government Efficiency.
Despite the Pentagon’s positive signals to the SpaceX group, some sources stressed the choice process for Trump’s Golden Dome is in its early stages. Its ultimate structure and who is chosen to work on it could change dramatically in the approaching months.
The three corporations met with top officials within the Trump administration and the Pentagon in recent weeks to pitch their plan, which might construct and launch 400 to greater than 1,000 satellites circling the globe to sense missiles and track their movement, sources said.
A separate fleet of 200 attack satellites armed with missiles or lasers would then bring enemy missiles down, three of the sources said. The SpaceX group will not be expected to be involved within the weaponization of satellites, these sources said.
One among the sources conversant in the talks described them as “a departure from the same old acquisition process. There’s an attitude that the national security and defense community needs to be sensitive and deferential to Elon Musk due to his role in the federal government.”
SpaceX and Musk have declined to comment on whether Musk is involved in any of the discussions or negotiations involving federal contracts along with his businesses.
The Pentagon didn’t reply to detailed questions from Reuters, only saying it’ll deliver “options to the President for his decision in step with the manager order and in alignment with White House guidance and timelines.”
The White House, SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril also didn’t reply to questions. After publication, Musk replied to a post about Reuters’ story on his social network X without elaborating: “This will not be true.”
Subscription service
In an unusual twist, SpaceX has proposed organising its role in Golden Dome as a “subscription service” by which the federal government would pay for access to the technology, fairly than own the system outright.
The subscription model, which has not been previously reported, could skirt some Pentagon procurement protocols, allowing the system to be rolled out faster, the 2 sources said. While the approach wouldn’t violate any rules, the federal government may then be locked right into a subscription and lose control over its ongoing development and pricing, they added.
Some Pentagon officials have expressed concerns internally about counting on the subscription-based model for any a part of the Golden Dome, two sources told Reuters. Such an arrangement can be unusual for such a big and significant defense program.
US Space Force General Michael Guetlein has been in talks on whether SpaceX must be the owner and operator of its a part of the system, the 2 sources said. Other options include having the US own and operate the system, or having the US own it while contractors handle operations. Guetlein didn’t reply to a request for comment.
Retired Air Force General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, a top SpaceX advisor to Musk, has been involved in the corporate’s recent discussions with senior defense and intelligence leaders, the 2 sources said. O’Shaughnessy didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Should the group led by SpaceX win a Golden Dome contract, it might be the largest win for Silicon Valley within the lucrative defense contracting industry and a blow to the standard contractors.
Nevertheless, those long-standing contractors, reminiscent of Northrop Grumman, Boeing and RTX are expected to be big players in the method as well, people conversant in the businesses said. Lockheed Martin put up a webpage as a component of its marketing efforts.
Many bids
The Pentagon has received interest from greater than 180 corporations keen to assist develop and construct the Golden Dome, in response to a US official, including defense startups like Epirus, Ursa Major and Armada. Members of the White House’s National Security Council were briefed by a handful of corporations about their capabilities, 4 sources said.
The Pentagon’s number two, former private equity investor Steve Feinberg, can be a key decision-maker for Golden Dome, two US defense officials said.
Feinberg co-founded Cerberus Capital Management, which has invested within the cutting-edge hypersonic missiles industry but not in SpaceX. Feinberg, who didn’t reply to a request for comment, has said he would divest of all his interests in Cerberus when he joined the administration.
Some experts imagine the general cost for Golden Dome could reach lots of of billions of dollars. The Pentagon established several timelines for capabilities to be delivered, starting with early 2026 to those delivered after 2030.
Laura Grego, research director on the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, questioned the feasibility of such a defense system on condition that multiple studies have concluded it’s a “bad idea, expensive and vulnerable.”
“Such a system could possibly be overwhelmed by launching multiple weapons at the identical time, pushing the required size of the defense to very large numbers – potentially within the tens of 1000’s of satellites,” Grego said.
SpaceX is pitching for the a part of the Golden Dome initiative called the “custody layer,” a constellation of satellites that may detect missiles, track their trajectory, and determine in the event that they are heading toward the US, in response to two sources conversant in SpaceX’s goals.
SpaceX has estimated the preliminary engineering and design work for the custody layer of satellites would cost between $6 billion and $10 billion, two of the sources said. Within the last five years, SpaceX has launched lots of of operational spy satellites and more recently several prototypes, which could possibly be retrofitted for use for the project, the sources said.
Reuters reviewed an internal Pentagon memo from Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth issued shortly before a February 28 deadline to senior Pentagon leadership asking them for initial Golden Dome proposals and calling for the “acceleration of the deployment” of constellations of satellites.
The time-frame could give SpaceX a bonus due to its fleet of rockets, including the Falcon 9, and existing satellites that could possibly be repurposed for the missile defense shield, the people conversant in the plan said.
Despite these benefits, a few of those conversant in the discussions said it was uncertain whether the SpaceX group would give you the chance to efficiently arrange a system with latest technology in a cheap way that may protect the USA from attack.
“It stays to be seen whether SpaceX and these tech corporations will give you the chance to tug any of this off,” said considered one of the sources. “They’ve never needed to deliver on a complete system that the nation might want to depend on for its defense.”
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and two partners have emerged as frontrunners to win a vital a part of President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense shield, six people conversant in the matter said.
Musk’s rocket and satellite company is partnering with software maker Palantir and drone builder Anduril on a bid to construct key parts of Golden Dome, the sources said, which has drawn significant interest from the technology sector’s burgeoning base of defense startups.
In his Jan. 27 executive order, Trump cited a missile attack as “essentially the most catastrophic threat facing the USA.”
All three corporations were founded by entrepreneurs who’ve been major political supporters of Trump. Musk has donated greater than 1 / 4 of a billion dollars to assist elect Trump, and now serves as a special adviser to the president, working to chop government spending through his Department of Government Efficiency.
Despite the Pentagon’s positive signals to the SpaceX group, some sources stressed the choice process for Trump’s Golden Dome is in its early stages. Its ultimate structure and who is chosen to work on it could change dramatically in the approaching months.
The three corporations met with top officials within the Trump administration and the Pentagon in recent weeks to pitch their plan, which might construct and launch 400 to greater than 1,000 satellites circling the globe to sense missiles and track their movement, sources said.
A separate fleet of 200 attack satellites armed with missiles or lasers would then bring enemy missiles down, three of the sources said. The SpaceX group will not be expected to be involved within the weaponization of satellites, these sources said.
One among the sources conversant in the talks described them as “a departure from the same old acquisition process. There’s an attitude that the national security and defense community needs to be sensitive and deferential to Elon Musk due to his role in the federal government.”
SpaceX and Musk have declined to comment on whether Musk is involved in any of the discussions or negotiations involving federal contracts along with his businesses.
The Pentagon didn’t reply to detailed questions from Reuters, only saying it’ll deliver “options to the President for his decision in step with the manager order and in alignment with White House guidance and timelines.”
The White House, SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril also didn’t reply to questions. After publication, Musk replied to a post about Reuters’ story on his social network X without elaborating: “This will not be true.”
Subscription service
In an unusual twist, SpaceX has proposed organising its role in Golden Dome as a “subscription service” by which the federal government would pay for access to the technology, fairly than own the system outright.
The subscription model, which has not been previously reported, could skirt some Pentagon procurement protocols, allowing the system to be rolled out faster, the 2 sources said. While the approach wouldn’t violate any rules, the federal government may then be locked right into a subscription and lose control over its ongoing development and pricing, they added.
Some Pentagon officials have expressed concerns internally about counting on the subscription-based model for any a part of the Golden Dome, two sources told Reuters. Such an arrangement can be unusual for such a big and significant defense program.
US Space Force General Michael Guetlein has been in talks on whether SpaceX must be the owner and operator of its a part of the system, the 2 sources said. Other options include having the US own and operate the system, or having the US own it while contractors handle operations. Guetlein didn’t reply to a request for comment.
Retired Air Force General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, a top SpaceX advisor to Musk, has been involved in the corporate’s recent discussions with senior defense and intelligence leaders, the 2 sources said. O’Shaughnessy didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Should the group led by SpaceX win a Golden Dome contract, it might be the largest win for Silicon Valley within the lucrative defense contracting industry and a blow to the standard contractors.
Nevertheless, those long-standing contractors, reminiscent of Northrop Grumman, Boeing and RTX are expected to be big players in the method as well, people conversant in the businesses said. Lockheed Martin put up a webpage as a component of its marketing efforts.
Many bids
The Pentagon has received interest from greater than 180 corporations keen to assist develop and construct the Golden Dome, in response to a US official, including defense startups like Epirus, Ursa Major and Armada. Members of the White House’s National Security Council were briefed by a handful of corporations about their capabilities, 4 sources said.
The Pentagon’s number two, former private equity investor Steve Feinberg, can be a key decision-maker for Golden Dome, two US defense officials said.
Feinberg co-founded Cerberus Capital Management, which has invested within the cutting-edge hypersonic missiles industry but not in SpaceX. Feinberg, who didn’t reply to a request for comment, has said he would divest of all his interests in Cerberus when he joined the administration.
Some experts imagine the general cost for Golden Dome could reach lots of of billions of dollars. The Pentagon established several timelines for capabilities to be delivered, starting with early 2026 to those delivered after 2030.
Laura Grego, research director on the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, questioned the feasibility of such a defense system on condition that multiple studies have concluded it’s a “bad idea, expensive and vulnerable.”
“Such a system could possibly be overwhelmed by launching multiple weapons at the identical time, pushing the required size of the defense to very large numbers – potentially within the tens of 1000’s of satellites,” Grego said.
SpaceX is pitching for the a part of the Golden Dome initiative called the “custody layer,” a constellation of satellites that may detect missiles, track their trajectory, and determine in the event that they are heading toward the US, in response to two sources conversant in SpaceX’s goals.
SpaceX has estimated the preliminary engineering and design work for the custody layer of satellites would cost between $6 billion and $10 billion, two of the sources said. Within the last five years, SpaceX has launched lots of of operational spy satellites and more recently several prototypes, which could possibly be retrofitted for use for the project, the sources said.
Reuters reviewed an internal Pentagon memo from Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth issued shortly before a February 28 deadline to senior Pentagon leadership asking them for initial Golden Dome proposals and calling for the “acceleration of the deployment” of constellations of satellites.
The time-frame could give SpaceX a bonus due to its fleet of rockets, including the Falcon 9, and existing satellites that could possibly be repurposed for the missile defense shield, the people conversant in the plan said.
Despite these benefits, a few of those conversant in the discussions said it was uncertain whether the SpaceX group would give you the chance to efficiently arrange a system with latest technology in a cheap way that may protect the USA from attack.
“It stays to be seen whether SpaceX and these tech corporations will give you the chance to tug any of this off,” said considered one of the sources. “They’ve never needed to deliver on a complete system that the nation might want to depend on for its defense.”
