The Pentagon has chosen two companies to build prototypes of key technology in Trump’s controversial Golden Dome plan, according to a report.
Satellite startup Impulse Space and defense technology company Anduril were chosen to develop prototypes for the space missile tracking and guidance technology that will make up the Golden Dome, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources.
The Golden Dome is the Trump administration’s ambitious plan to create a network of space satellites to detect and thwart any potential air attack on US soil, something that does not pose a particularly imminent and urgent threat to resolve, considering that there has not been a successful military attack on US soil since World War II.
Trump announced the project in an executive order when he took office in January 2025, but since then, its timeline has been largely kept secret. TO Congressional Budget Office A report from May 2025 said it could take 20 years to build, but a CNN report report August 2025 stated that the first major test of the Golden Dome was planned for just before the 2028 presidential election. Reports of contracts signed between the Pentagon and defense and space technology companies give some insight into how the Administration is moving forward with the program.
At the heart of this satellite network would be space interceptors, which would find and destroy enemy missiles and drones in the early stages. The technology itself does not yet exist and is considered theoretically ineffective and impractical.
According to a June 2025 information request, the Space Force began conducting Market research on space interceptor capabilities. last summer, saying that after reviewing responses, they could meet with select companies to discuss next steps. Now, the Bloomberg report claims that Impulse Space, led by Tom Mueller, Elon Musk’s first employee for SpaceX, would work as a subcontractor to Anduril to develop the technology.
a previous reuters report He claimed that defense contractors Northrop Grumman, True Anomaly and Lockheed Martin, along with Anduril, were also working with the government to build prototype space interceptors and other related systems for the Golden Dome. The companies have so far won initial awards and will compete for final production contracts, Reuters said at the time.
Similar plans to launch an armored missile defense system to the moon have been touted since. of former president Reagan time, but the plans have never truly and completely translated into reality. Some critics have called the program scientifically impossible and it will probably be very expensive, with a study estimating costs of up to $3.6 trillion through 2045.
Prominent political think tank The Brookings Institution called the plan “a costly and destabilizing deployment of space interceptors” and warned that it could encourage similar deployments by China and Russia, creating “a new arms race that will make us less safe, not more.”
