Golden Dome, the Trump administration’s gambit to build a next-generation missile defense system, has startups and longstanding defense contractors preparing to duke it out for a piece of a $151 billion multi-year contract.
The process to qualify for the $151 billion contract vehicle, essentially an umbrella program, is stacked against most startups – not because of their tech. Instead, smaller companies may be thwarted by a multi-layered, expensive bureaucratic process used to ensure a company can meet security and other compliance requirements.
Ultimately, Golden Dome may not be the zero-sum battle of emerging tech versus incumbents. The startups that do breakthrough will be those that are able to convince the biggest defense contractors to take them on as subcontractors.
The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency released last week a draft solicitation for a $151 billion, multi-award contract, the prelude to the government’s forthcoming defense tech-buying spree.
The 10-year contract, called SHIELD, or Scalable Homeland Enterprise Layered Defense, acts as an umbrella that will be used to buy technology for the Golden Dome system. That program, which the White House likened to Israel’s Iron Dome, will encompass systems that span space, land, and sea to protect the continental United States against a variety of missile threats.
In order to build out this system, the government will be looking to purchase a range of cutting-edge technology, like space-based interceptors, ground-based radars, and terrestrial and sea-based systems capable of taking out an enemy missile in flight. The first hurdle for companies hoping to win one of the contracts is to qualify for the umbrella program, or vehicle.
Getting onto the $151 billion vehicle doesn’t guarantee federal dollars; instead, companies will compete for contracting work on individual task orders. The final request for proposals will be released sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, though that hasn’t stopped companies from already starting their lobbying efforts.
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Bryce Dabbs, CEO of consulting firm Approach Venture, told TechCrunch that he estimates between 5% and 10% of the pot could realistically go to non-traditional vendors – not by startups competing as a prime contractor, but rather through “teaming and subcontracting arrangements,” he said, noting that not all startups are equal. For instance, SpaceX and Anduril, while backed by venture capital, are already at the scale of small primes, and the opportunity for smaller startups will likely look considerably different.
A startup with a compelling technology would need to collaborate with a defense prime, like Northrop Grumman or Lockheed, to provide a capability that the prime doesn’t currently offer in-house.
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