The US military should rely on multiple vendors for the Golden Dome, not just SpaceX

The Golden Dome, an air and missile defence shield created by the USA, has been a hot topic in the space industry since the beginning of 2025. Indeed, government and commercial organisations in the space industry have raised many questions about the programme because the Trump administration has shared few details. For example, it is not clear whether the Golden Dome will replace, or be a continuation of, the Space Development Agency’s (SDA’s) Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), and it is unknown whether the US government will purchase communication services from commercial satellite operators, such as SpaceX.

It was reported, in April 2025, that SpaceX may partner with Anduril and Palantir to become the primary candidate for the USA’s new Golden Dome programme’s Custody Layer and Subscription Service. However, depending solely on SpaceX poses many risks for the US military. Indeed, we believe that the US military should procure satellites from multiple vendors and support diverse satellite vendors, as it did for the SDA’s PWSA, to stimulate the commercial market and increase US national satellite sovereignty.