Trump's Golden Dome: Musk pitches space shield subscription
Donald Trump wants the United States to be shielded from missile attacks. This protection is to be ensured by the Golden Dome – a new generation anti-missile system. Among its potential contractors is SpaceX, and Elon Musk has reportedly proposed, according to Reuters, an anti-missile defence offered as a service, in a subscription model.
A private company's offering of a key defensive system as a service encapsulates the concept of the Golden Dome, as reported by Reuters (although Musk on platform X denied this information).
The Golden Dome is a new anti-missile system which – by deploying some of its components in orbit – would effectively protect the United States from missile attacks. The threat posed by intercontinental ballistic missiles was emphasised by Donald Trump in January 2025 as "the most catastrophic" for the USA.
To mitigate this threat, the United States plans to build a global anti-missile system which, although its name references Israel’s Iron Dome, operates on a principle closer to that of "Star Wars" from Reagan’s era, known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
The sensors of the Golden Dome are to consist of hundreds of satellites deployed in orbit. Their task will be to detect missile launches, track their trajectory, and assess the threats they pose.
If it is determined that missiles threaten the United States, the second component of the Golden Dome will be activated: orbited weapons, including combat lasers, capable of destroying detected missiles mid-flight.
Subscription-based missile defence
The scale and potential cost of the project, aimed to reach hundreds of billions of dollars, mean that alongside large defence corporations, other companies and startups are also competing to build the Golden Dome. These include SpaceX, as well as Palantir (a company specialising in data gathering) and Anduril – a startup specialising in constructing innovative military drones.
In this context, Elon Musk reportedly – according to Reuters – proposed a subscription model for the operation of the space missile shield. The state would not have to cover the cost of building space infrastructure, and since it would be a private initiative, procedures would be simplified, consequently reducing the construction time of the defence system. In return, the Pentagon would pay the contractors a subscription fee.
