Washington: Elon Musk SpaceX and two partners have become frontrunners to win a crucial part of the anti -missile defense shield of the “Golden Dome of President Donald Trump, said six people familiar to the case.
Musk’s Rocket and Satellite Company is associated with the software manufacturer Palant and the drone manufacturer Andundil in order to build key parts of Golden Dome, according to sources, which has aroused significant interest in the emerging basis of the technological sector of defense startups.
In his January 27 decree, Trump quoted a missile attack as “the most catastrophic threat in the United States”.
The three companies were founded by entrepreneurs who have been great political supporters of Trump. Musk donated more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump, and now serves as a special advisor to the president working to reduce government spending through his government ministry.
Despite the positive signals of the Pentagon to the SpaceX group, some sources have stressed that the Trump’s golden dome’s decision -making process is in its early days. Its ultimate structure and which is selected to work could change considerably in the coming months.
The three companies have met the senior officials of the Trump administration and the Pentagon in recent weeks to present their plan, which would strengthen and launch 400 to more than 1,000 satellites circulating worldwide to detect the missiles and follow their movement, sources said.
A distinct fleet of 200 attack satellites armed with missile or lasers then shoot down the enemy missiles, according to three sources. The SpaceX group should not be involved in the armament of satellites, according to these sources.
One of the families familiar with talks described them as “a departure from the usual acquisition process. There is an attitude that the National Security and Defense Community must be sensitive and deferential to Elon Musk because of its role in the government”.
SpaceX and Musk refused to comment if Musk is involved in one of the discussions or negotiations involving federal contracts with his businesses.
The Pentagon did not answer the detailed questions of Reuters, affirming only that it will offer “the options to the president for his decision in accordance with the decree and in accordance with the advice of the White House and to deadlines”.
The White House, SpaceX, Palant and Andundil also answered the questions either. After the publication, Musk responded to an article on Reuters’ history on his social network X without developing: “This is not true.”
Subscription service
In an unusual turn, SpaceX proposed to set up its role in Golden Dome as a “subscription service” in which the government would pay for access to technology, rather than owner of the system.
The subscription model, which has not been reported before, could circumvent certain Pentagon supply protocols allowing the system to be deployed more quickly, the two sources said. Although the approach would not violate any rule, the government can then be locked in a subscription and lose control of its development and its current prices, they added.
Some Pentagon officials have expressed internal concerns about relying on the subscription -based model for any part of the Golden Dome, two sources in Reuters told. Such an arrangement would be unusual for such a important and critical defense program.
The general of the American spatial force Michael Guetlein was in talks to find out if SpaceX should be the owner and the operator of his part of the system, the two sources said. Other options include the fact that the United States has and exploited the system or the fact that the United States has it while entrepreneurs manage operations. Guetlein did not respond to a request for comments.
Air Force’s retirement general, Terrence O’Shaughnessy, one of the best Musk Spacex advisers, was involved in the company’s recent discussions with senior defense and intelligence leaders, the two sources said. O’Shaughnessy did not respond to requests for comments.
If the group led by SpaceX wins a Golden Dome contract, it would be the biggest victory for Silicon Valley in the lucrative defense contract industry and a blow to traditional entrepreneurs.
However, these long -standing entrepreneurs, such as Northrop Grumman, Boeing and RTX, should also be great players in the process, have declared people familiar with companies. Lockheed Martin has set up a web page as part of its marketing efforts.
A lot of offers
The Pentagon has received interest from more than 180 companies wishing to help develop and build the Golden Dome, according to an American official, including defense startups like Epius, Ursa Major and Armada. The members of the National Security Council of the White House were informed by a handful of companies on their capacity, four sources said.
Pentagon number two, the former investor in investment in investment Steve Feinberg, will be a key decision-maker for Golden Dome, said two American defense officials.
Feinberg co -founded Cerberus Capital Management which has invested in the advanced hypersonic missile industry but not in SpaceX. Feinberg, who did not respond to a request for comments, said he would deactivate all his interests in Cerberus when he joined the administration.
Some experts believe that the overall cost of Golden Dome could reach hundreds of billions of dollars. The Pentagon has established several deadlines for the ability to deliver from the beginning of 2026 to those delivered after 2030.
Laura Grego, director of research at the non -profit union of the scientists concerned, questioned the feasibility of such a defense system since several studies concluded that it was a “bad idea, expensive and vulnerable”.
“Such a system could be overwhelmed by launching several weapons at the same time, pushing the required size of defense in very large numbers – potentially in the tens of thousands of satellites,” said Grego.
SpaceX launches for the part of the Golden Dome initiative called “Custody Layer”, a constellation of satellites that would detect the missiles, follow their trajectory and determine if they are heading to the United States, according to two familiar sources with SpaceX’s objectives.
SpaceX estimated that preliminary engineering and design work for the satellite childcare layer would cost between $ 6 and 10 billion, according to two sources. In the past five years, SpaceX has launched hundreds of operational spy satellites and, more recently, several prototypes, which could be modernized to be used for the project, sources said.
Reuters reviewed an internal service note from the Pentagon of the Secretary of Defense, Peter Hegseth, published shortly before a deadline of February 28 to the management of the Pentagon senior asking them for initial proposals of the Dome of Gold and calling for “the acceleration of the deployment” of the constellations of satellites.
The delay could give SpaceX an advantage due to its fleet of rockets, including Falcon 9, and existing satellites which could be reused for the anti -missile defense shield, according to the plan.
Despite these advantages, some of those who know the discussions said it was not sure that the SpaceX group would be able to effectively create a system with new technologies in a profitable way that can protect the United States from attacks.
“It remains to be seen if SpaceX and these technological companies will be able to achieve all of this,” said one of the sources. “They never had to deliver to an entire system on which the nation will have to count for its defense.”
In addition, certain Democrats in the congress have expressed their concern about Musk’s offers on federal contracts while serving in the White House.
“When the richest man in the world can become an employee of the special government and exert an influence on the flow of billions of dollars of money from taxpayers in government contracts to his businesses, it is a serious problem,” American senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said, principal member of the Armed Services Committee.
Shaheen has introduced new legislation that would prevent federal contracts from being issued to companies belonging to a special government employee like Musk.
American representative Donald Beyer, D-VA, told Reuters that he was also concerned about the role of SpaceX given “the unprecedented interior of Musk with non-public information and data”.
“All the contracts awarded to him or his businesses are suspects,” he said.