Trump’s Golden Dome appears for options to Elon Musk’s SpaceX
The U.S. Trump administration is increasing its seek for companions to construct the Golden Dome missile protection system, courting Amazon.com’s Venture Kuiper and massive defence contractors as tensions with Elon Musk threaten SpaceX’s dominance in this system, in accordance with three sources acquainted with the matter.
The shift marks a strategic pivot away from reliance on Musk’s SpaceX, whose Starlink and Starshield satellite tv for pc networks have turn into central to U.S. navy communications. It comes amid a deteriorating relationship between Trump and Musk, which culminated in a public falling-out on June 5.
Even earlier than the spat, officers on the Pentagon and White Home had begun exploring options to SpaceX, cautious of over-reliance on a single companion for big parts of the bold, $175 billion space-based protection protect, two of the sources mentioned. SpaceX didn’t reply to requests for remark. Responding to a submit in regards to the Reuters story on X, Musk wrote, “Federal acquisition rules require utilizing the perfect supplier at the perfect worth. The rest can be breaking the regulation.”
Resulting from its dimension, observe report of launching greater than 9,000 of its personal Starlink satellites, and expertise in authorities procurement, SpaceX nonetheless has the within observe to help with main parts of the Golden Dome, particularly launch contracts, sources say.
Venture Kuiper, which has launched simply 78 of a deliberate constellation of three,000 low-earth orbit satellites, has been approached by the Pentagon to affix the hassle, signaling the administration’s openness to integrating business tech corporations into nationwide protection infrastructure and going past conventional protection gamers.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s government chairman, advised Reuters in January that Kuiper can be “primarily business,” however acknowledged “there will probably be protection makes use of for these [low-earth orbit] constellations, little doubt.”
A spokesperson for Venture Kuiper declined to remark for this story. The Pentagon declined to remark. The White Home didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Golden Dome’s ambitions mirror these of Israel’s Iron Dome, a homeland missile defence protect, however a bigger, extra advanced layered defence system requires an enormous community of orbiting satellites overlaying extra territory.
Within the seek for extra distributors for the satellite tv for pc layers of Golden Dome, “Kuiper is an enormous one,” a U.S. official mentioned. Whereas SpaceX stays a frontrunner on account of its unmatched launch capabilities, its share of the programme may shrink, two of the folks mentioned. Officers have reached out to new entrants like rocket corporations Stoke Area and Rocket Lab are gaining traction and can be capable to bid on particular person launches because the programme matures, in accordance with the U.S. official.
Later within the improvement of Golden Dome “every particular person launch goes to get bid, and now we have to really give bids to different folks,” moreover SpaceX, the official mentioned.
There may be an pressing want for extra satellite tv for pc manufacturing. Final 12 months Congress gave Area Drive a $13 billion mandate, up from $900 million, to purchase satellite-based communication companies in what was broadly seen as certainly one of many efforts to stimulate non-public sector satellite tv for pc manufacturing. Amazon’s Venture Kuiper, a $10 billion initiative led by former Starlink managers dismissed by Musk for gradual progress, Reuters has reported, has lagged behind SpaceX in deployment. However its potential defence functions, equivalent to communications that might assist missile monitoring, have drawn renewed curiosity because the administration prepares to allocate the primary $25 billion tranche of funding authorised beneath Trump’s sweeping tax and spending invoice.
Conventional defence giants Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and L3Harris are additionally in talks to assist Golden Dome. L3Harris CFO Kenneth Bedingfield advised Reuters in an interview the corporate has seen a surge in curiosity in its missile warning and monitoring applied sciences, that are anticipated to play a key position within the system.
Northrop, in the meantime, is pursuing a number of efforts together with a space-based interceptor, a element that will allow missile strikes from orbit, Robert Fleming, the pinnacle of the corporate’s area enterprise, advised Reuters in an interview.
“Lockheed Martin is able to assist Golden Dome for America as a confirmed mission companion,” Robert Lightfoot, president of Lockheed Martin Area, mentioned in a press release. Golden Dome’s preliminary outreach this spring invited smaller, newer Silicon Valley corporations seen as nimbler, extra refined and doubtlessly cheaper options to the large defence corporations to the desk, however that was earlier than the Musk-Trump feud upended that calculus. A number of with shut ties to Trump except for SpaceX, together with Palantir and Anduril, have been thought-about early frontrunners to win massive items of the $175 billion venture.
However the Musk-Trump feud has reshaped the aggressive panorama. Musk not too long ago launched the “America Celebration,” a tech-centric, centrist political motion aimed toward defeating Republicans who backed Trump’s tax-and-spend agenda.
Trump launched the Golden Dome initiative only a week into his second time period, pushing for fast deployment. Area Drive Common Michael Guetlein, confirmed by the Senate on July 17, is about to guide the programme with sweeping authority.
Underneath a beforehand unreported directive from Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, Guetlein has 30 days from affirmation to construct a staff, 60 days to ship an preliminary system design, and 120 days to current a full implementation plan, together with satellite tv for pc and floor station particulars, two folks briefed on the memo mentioned.
Hours after Reuters revealed its story Tuesday morning, the Pentagon issued a press launch acknowledging that an structure for Golden Dome will probably be “developed inside the subsequent 60 days.” The inclusion of economic platforms like Kuiper raises safety considerations. Its satellites would must be hardened towards cyberattacks and digital warfare, a problem that has plagued even SpaceX’s Starlink community. In Could 2024, Elon Musk mentioned SpaceX was spending “vital sources combating Russian jamming efforts. This can be a powerful drawback.”
Past the technical and political challenges, Golden Dome may reshape international safety dynamics. A totally operational space-based missile protect could immediate adversaries to develop new offensive capabilities or speed up the militarisation of area.
Nonetheless, established protection gamers like Lockheed and RTX, previously Raytheon, will possible be on the entrance of the road for contracts. Executives at RTX, maker of the Patriot missile protection system, mentioned on Tuesday they consider the system goes to be integral to Golden Dome “particularly if you wish to make a major impression over the subsequent 2 to three years.”
Revealed – July 23, 2025 09:12 am IST
