“SpaceX is set to receive $2 billion to develop satellites that can track missiles and aircraft under President Trump's Golden Dome project, people familiar with the matter said.
The funding was included in the tax-and-spending bill that Trump signed in July, but wasn't publicly linked to a contractor. The planned "air moving target indicator" system could eventually field as many as 600 satellites, some of the people said.
The Elon Musk-led company is expected to play a major role in two other Pentagon satellite networks, according to people familiar with the situation. One, called Milnet, would relay sensitive military communications, while the other involves satellites capable of tracking vehicles on the ground, the people said.
The traction that SpaceX has gained with the coming satellite fleets is another sign of the company's growing influence in U.S. national security.
Government officials have described Golden Dome as a complex system of satellites and other technologies that could destroy missiles before they hit their targets. The Pentagon has released few specifics about how the missile shield would work.
Defense officials haven't awarded major contracts for Golden Dome while they set its spending plans. Lawmakers and industry executives are expecting more details from the Pentagon about Golden Dome in the coming weeks.
A Pentagon representative declined to comment on SpaceX's involvement in the planned satellite systems: "We do not provide details relating to specifics of architectural discussion or predecisional matters."
SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment.
Musk's space company, known for its rocket launches, has built a big satellite business serving military and intelligence agencies. Officials have praised SpaceX's prowess at advancing technologies for national security and rapidly deploying satellites.
"What we're relying on is industry to help us innovate by showing us the art of the possible -- bringing ideas to us," Gen. Chance Saltzman, the top operations official at the Space Force, said at an industry event last year.
The Wall Street Journal reported in February that SpaceX, along with the defense technology companies Anduril Industries and Palantir Technologies, had pitched their services to help develop Golden Dome's infrastructure on a fast timeline. Traditional defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris are also proposing technologies for the shield.
Trump has said Golden Dome would cost $175 billion, though analysts estimate it would cost hundreds of billions more.
The president has pushed for the system to operate by the end of his term. The brisk timeline offers SpaceX an edge in securing work on the project because the company can manufacture and launch satellites more quickly than rivals, according to government and industry officials.
SpaceX recently said it had launched more than 10,000 satellites for its Starlink internet service. Starlink's rapid growth has made it the largest satellite fleet in history.
Breaking Defense earlier reported on SpaceX's involvement in Milnet.
The Milnet system has been under development for years and involves both the Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. spy agency focused on classified satellites. The NRO, which hired SpaceX several years ago to develop and launch a swarm of intelligence satellites, didn't respond to a request for comment.
Many military leaders and lawmakers are leery of threading too many national-security satellite networks through SpaceX, fearing the U.S. would become overly dependent on the company.
Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) recently said he would keep pushing for competition as Trump's missile shield takes shape. "I don't want to end up where we pick one company and we go down a path," he said, without naming any company.
Inside the Defense Department, leaders call such a scenario "vendor lock." Those situations can "negate the strengths of the market by stifling innovation and inflating prices," the Defense Science Board, a technical advisory group for the Pentagon, said last year.
Government officials said some of Musk's actions have reinforced the need to have several contractors supporting national-security operations in space. One example: his threat to decommission a spacecraft that transports National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronauts to the International Space Station.
Musk walked back the threat, and SpaceX executives have often pointed to the company's close relationships with government officials and agencies.
"The government will get what they need -- just like always," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at an investor event last year, discussing how the company would dedicate Starlink internet to the U.S. in the event of a conflict.” [1]
1. U.S. News: SpaceX to Win $2 Billion U.S. Satellite Deal. FitzGerald, Drew; Maidenberg, Micah. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 01 Nov 2025: A2.
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