SpaceX is expected to receive $2 billion for President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome project, which sources say will include up to 600 satellites as part of an “air moving target indicator” system. According to the Wall Street Journal, this would represent another satellite project the Elon Musk-led company would have with the Pentagon, alongside a military communications network called Milnet, which uses SpaceX’s classified Starshield satellites and terminals, and a ground-tracking satellite system. The Pentagon and SpaceX did not comment on the news, especially as no official announcement has been made. However, funding for this project has already been approved as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that Trump signed in July 2025, although it hasn’t yet been linked to a specific defense contractor.
A massive project
Golden Dome is an advanced missile shield that will use a sophisticated system of satellites, interceptors, command and control, and other related infrastructure. It’s expected to cost at least $175 billion, with some experts projecting total expenditures to be much higher. So, the $2 billion deal that SpaceX is set to receive would just be one giant drop in the even bigger bucket of the Department of Defense. We should also note that SpaceX likely won’t be the only company working on this project, as other startups and defense firms have pitched their products and services.
Some of these companies include new names such as Anduril Industries and Palantir Technologies, as well as giants such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris. “What we’re relying on is industry to help us innovate by showing us the art of the possible—bringing ideas to us,” said U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman during an industry event in 2024.
Given the size of the project, neither the legislative nor the executive bodies are keen on relying on a single supplier like SpaceX. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said he does not want to rely on a single company as Washington builds its missile defense umbrella. The Pentagon’s Defense Science Board called this monopoly ‘vendor lock’ and can “negate the strengths of the market by stifling innovation and inflating prices.”
Inspired by other missile defense systems
Trump’s missile defense project sounds similar to, and is likely inspired by, Israel’s Iron Dome interceptor system, though on a much larger scale. The latter has a reported 90% success rate and can intercept various threats, including missiles and mortars. However, there’s an even older project from the 1980s that is similar to the White House’s plan. Then U.S. President Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in 1983, intended to protect the United States against incoming ballistic missile threats from the Soviet Union using lasers and other systems. However, it’s been deemed that the required technology for it to run effectively was too advanced for its time, and with the dissolution of its main rival in 1991, the project fell into obscurity.
The advent of new technologies, like hypersonic missiles, meant that the U.S.’s current defenses aren’t equipped to handle this new threat. However, Golden Dome is more than just a new missile system — it’s an integrated defense network that would combine ground, sea, space, and, likely, even cyberspace systems, with SpaceX being just one of the cogs in this massive defensive machine.
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