With Elon Musk’s SpaceX dominance in the defence space, the Trump administration is expanding its search for partners to build the Golden Dome missile defense system, courting Amazon.com's Project Kuiper and big defense contractors. The shift marks a strategic pivot away from reliance on Musk's SpaceX.
Even before the spat between Trump and Musk, officials at the Pentagon and White House had begun exploring alternatives to SpaceX, and not relying on a single partner.
Starlink vs Project Kuiper
Due to its size and a track record of launching more than 9,000 of its own Starlink satellites, and experience in government procurement, SpaceX still has the inside track to assist with major portions of the Golden Dome, especially launch contracts.
Project Kuiper, on the other hand, has launched just 78 of a planned constellation of 3,000 low-earth orbit satellites. It has been approached by the Pentagon to join the effort, signaling the administration's openness to integrating commercial tech firms into national defense infrastructure and going beyond traditional defense players.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's executive chairman, told Reuters in January that Kuiper would be "primarily commercial," but acknowledged "there will be defense uses for these [low-earth orbit] constellations, no doubt."
What is the Golden Dome?
Golden Dome's ambitions mirror those of Israel's Iron Dome - a homeland missile defense shield - but a larger, more complex layered defense system that requires a vast network of orbiting satellites covering more territory.
In the search for more vendors for the satellite layers of Golden Dome, "Kuiper is a big one," a U.S. official said.
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