Two informed sources have disclosed to Reuters that the United States Space Force has awarded approximately six small “Golden Dome” contracts to contractors for the construction of competitive missile defense system prototypes, marking the beginning of a battle for future contracts worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
According to Reuters, the sources mentioned that the contract recipients include several companies such as Northrop Grumman, True Anomaly, Lockheed Martin, and Anduril.
These contracts signify significant advancements by the Pentagon in tracking and destroying enemy missiles, including the development of space-based interceptors and related systems prototypes. While the exact scale of the contracts is unknown, a demonstration document from the Pentagon in July indicates that the funding for interceptor contracts is around $120,000 per unit.
Although a spokesperson for the Space Force confirmed the contract awards to contractors, they declined to reveal the names of the contractors. The spokesperson stated that contracts valued below $9 million do not require public disclosure.
The contractors receiving these initial contracts will compete for final production contracts worth potentially hundreds of billions of dollars.
The funding from these contracts will be used to develop equipment prototypes for competitive systems, including interceptors to shoot down missiles in space, as well as fire control stations to coordinate satellite signals, assist in interceptor launches, and locate targets.
Sources mentioned that based on the amounts disclosed in the Pentagon’s July demonstration document, the Space Force has awarded contracts worth $10 million to Northrop Grumman and Anduril.
The names of the companies that secured these two contracts have not been previously reported.
The government had requested contractors to develop four different versions of interceptors to address threats of various altitudes and speeds, but contracts have not been awarded yet.
A third source mentioned that these four categories of interceptor projects may be consolidated into three.
The government has established a “prize pool” mechanism to drive bidding for various interceptors, incentivizing rapid development. According to the July demonstration document, the largest prize pool of $340 million will be allocated to companies that successfully complete on-orbit testing, with the first-place winner receiving $125 million and the fifth-place winner receiving $40 million.
The ultimate rewards are substantial: as indicated in the July demonstration document, the annual production contract is valued at $1.8 to $3.4 billion. However, industry executives estimate that developing and testing a space-based interceptor prototype may require $200 million to $2 billion.
The space-based interceptor program represents a new missile defense approach, deploying weapons in orbit to enable earlier destruction of threats on their flight paths compared to current ground-based systems.