logo
Trump's Golden Dome looks for alternatives to Musk's SpaceX

Trump's Golden Dome looks for alternatives to Musk's SpaceX

CTV News3 days ago
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON — U.S President Donald Trump's administration is expanding its search for partners to build the Golden Dome missile defense system, courting Amazon.com's Project Kuiper and big defence contractors as tensions with Elon Musk threaten SpaceX's dominance in the program, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The shift marks a strategic pivot away from reliance on Musk's SpaceX, whose Starlink and Starshield satellite networks have become central to U.S. military communications.
It comes amid a deteriorating relationship between Trump and Musk, which culminated in a public falling-out on June 5. Even before the spat, officials at the Pentagon and White House had begun exploring alternatives to SpaceX, wary of over-reliance on a single partner for huge portions of the ambitious, US$175 billion space-based defense shield, two of the sources said.
Musk and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment. After Reuters reported initially that SpaceX was a frontrunner to build parts of Golden Dome, Musk said on X that the company had 'not tried to bid for any contract in this regard. Our strong preference would be to stay focused on taking humanity to Mars.'
Due to its size, 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, sources say.
Project Kuiper, which has launched just 78 of a planned constellation of 3,000 low-earth orbit satellites, 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.'
A spokesperson for Project Kuiper declined to comment for this story. The Pentagon declined to comment. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Golden Dome's ambitions mirror those of Israel's Iron Dome - a homeland missile defense shield - but a larger, more complex layered defence system 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.
While SpaceX remains a frontrunner due to its unmatched launch capabilities, its share of the program could shrink, two of the people said. Officials have reached out to new entrants like rocket companies Stoke Space and Rocket Lab are gaining traction and will be able to bid on individual launches as the program matures, according to the U.S. official.
Later in the development of Golden Dome 'each individual launch is going to get bid, and we have to actually give bids to other people,' besides SpaceX, the official said.
Need for satellites
There is an urgent need for more satellite production. Last year Congress gave Space Force a $13 billion mandate - up from $900 million - to buy satellite-based communication services in what was widely seen as one of many efforts to stimulate private sector satellite production.
Amazon's Project Kuiper, a $10 billion initiative led by former Starlink managers dismissed by Musk for slow progress, Reuters has reported, has lagged behind SpaceX in deployment. But its potential defense applications - such as communications that could aid missile tracking - have drawn renewed interest as the administration prepares to allocate the first $25 billion tranche of funding authorized under Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill.
Traditional defense giants Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and L3Harris are also in talks to support Golden Dome. L3Harris CFO Kenneth Bedingfield told Reuters in an interview the company has seen a surge in interest in its missile warning and tracking technologies, which are expected to play a key role in the system.
Northrop, meanwhile, is pursuing several efforts including a space-based interceptor, a component that would enable missile strikes from orbit, Robert Flemming, the head of the company's space business, told Reuters in an interview.
'Lockheed Martin is ready to support Golden Dome for America as a proven mission partner,' Robert Lightfoot, president of Lockheed Martin Space, said in a statement.
Golden Dome's initial outreach this spring invited smaller, newer Silicon Valley firms seen as nimbler, more sophisticated and potentially less expensive alternatives to the big defense firms to the table - but that was before the Musk-Trump feud upended that calculus.
Several with close ties to Trump aside from SpaceX, including Palantir and Anduril - were considered early frontrunners to win big pieces of the $175 billion project.
But the Musk-Trump feud has reshaped the competitive landscape. Musk recently launched the 'America Party,' a tech-centric, centrist political movement aimed at defeating Republicans who backed Trump's tax-and-spend agenda.
Rapid timeframe
Trump launched the Golden Dome initiative just a week into his second term, pushing for rapid deployment. Space Force General Michael Guetlein, confirmed by the Senate on July 17, is set to lead the program with sweeping authority.
Under a previously unreported directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Guetlein has 30 days from confirmation to build a team, 60 days to deliver an initial system design, and 120 days to present a full implementation plan, including satellite and ground station details, two people briefed on the memo said.
The inclusion of commercial platforms like Kuiper raises security concerns. Its satellites would need to be hardened against cyberattacks and electronic warfare, a challenge that has plagued even SpaceX's Starlink network. In May 2024, Elon Musk said SpaceX was spending 'significant resources combating Russian jamming efforts. This is a tough problem.'
Beyond the technical and political challenges, Golden Dome could reshape global security dynamics. A fully operational space-based missile shield may prompt adversaries to develop new offensive capabilities or accelerate the militarization of space.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington, additional reporting by Joey Roulette; editing by Chris Sanders and Michael Learmonth)
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Paramount gets the go-ahead from U.S. regulators to merge with Skydance
Paramount gets the go-ahead from U.S. regulators to merge with Skydance

CBC

time28 minutes ago

  • CBC

Paramount gets the go-ahead from U.S. regulators to merge with Skydance

U.S. federal regulators on Thursday approved Paramount's $8-billion US merger with Skydance, clearing the way to close a deal that combined Hollywood glitz with political intrigue. The stamp of approval from the Federal Communications Commission comes after months of turmoil revolving around President Donald Trump's legal battle with 60 Minutes, the crown jewel of Paramount-owned broadcast network CBS. With the spectre of the Trump administration potentially blocking the hard-fought deal with Skydance, Paramount earlier this month agreed to pay a $16-million US settlement with the president. Critics of that settlement lambasted it as a veiled bribe to appease Trump, amid rising alarm over editorial independence overall. Further outrage also emerged after CBS said it was cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert just days after the comedian sharply criticized the parent company's settlement on air. Paramount cited financial reasons, but big names both within and outside the company have questioned those motives. In a statement accompanying the deal's approval, FCC Chair Brendan Carr — appointed by Trump — hailed the merger as an opportunity to bring more balance to "once-storied" CBS. "Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change," Carr said. 'Cowardly capitulation' While seeking approval, Skydance management assured regulators that it will carefully watch for any perceived biased at CBS News and hire an ombudsman to review any complaints about fairness. In a Tuesday filing, the company's general counsel maintained that New Paramount will embody "a diversity of viewpoints across the political and ideological spectrum" — and also noted that it plans to take a "comprehensive review" of CBS to make "any necessary changes." The FCC approved the merger by a 2-1 vote, and the regulator who opposed it expressed disdain for how it all came together. "After months of cowardly capitulation to this administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted," FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement. "Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions." Gomez was appointed by former president Joe Biden. Why CBS axed The Late Show: Ratings or politics? 6 days ago Paramount and Skydance have said they wanted to seal the deal by this September, and now appear to be on a path to make it happen by then, if not sooner. Over the past year, the merger has periodically looked like it might fall apart as the two sides haggled over terms. But the two companies finally struck an accord that valued the combined company at $28 billion US, with a consortium led by the family of Skydance founder David Ellison and RedBird Capital agreeing to invest $8 billion US. Signalling a shakeup would accompany the changing of the guard, Ellison stressed the need to transition into a "tech hybrid" to stay competitive in today's entertainment landscape. That includes plans to "rebuild" the Paramount+ streaming service, among wider efforts to expand direct-to-consumer offerings in a world with more entertainment options and shorter attention spans. Trump's 60 Minutes lawsuit Ellison, who is poised to become CEO of the restructured Paramount, is the son of Larry Ellison, the technology titan and co-founder of Oracle. Besides possessing an estimated $288 billion US fortune, Larry Ellison has been described as a friend by Trump. While Paramount sweated out regulatory approval of the merger, one of TV's best-known and longest-running programs turned into a political hot potato when Trump sued CBS over the handling of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, his Democratic Party opponent in last year's presidential election. Trump accused the program of deceptively editing the interview to help Harris win the election. After initially demanding $10 billion US in damages, Trump upped the ante to $20 billion US, while asserting he had suffered "mental anguish." The case quickly became a closely-watched test of whether a corporation would back its journalists and stand up to Trump. Editing for brevity's sake is commonplace in TV journalism and CBS argued Trump's claims had no merit. But reports of company executives exploring a potential settlement with Trump later piled up, particularly after Carr launched an investigation earlier this year. By the start of July, Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million US. The company said the money would go to Trump's future presidential library and to pay his legal fees, but maintained that it was not apologizing or expressing regret for the story. The settlement triggered an outcry among critics who pilloried Paramount for backing down from the legal fight to increase the chances of closing the Skydance deal. Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said that the deal "could be bribery in plain sight" — and called for an investigation and new rules to restrict donations to presidential libraries. Concerns about editorial independence at CBS had piled up even in the months before the deal was announced — with Paramount overseeing 60 Minutes stories in new ways, as well as journalists at the network expressing frustrations about the changes on an award-winning program that has been a weekly staple for nearly 57 years In April, then-executive producer of 60 Minutes Bill Owens resigned, noting that it had "become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it." Another domino fell in May when CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon also stepped down, citing disagreements with the company "on the path forward," amid speculation of Paramount nearing a settlement with Trump. CBS has since appointed Tanya Simon as the top producer at 60 Minutes — elevating a respected insider in a move that could be viewed as a way to calm nerves leading up to the changes that Skydance's Ellison is expected to make.

Global network outage hits Starlink
Global network outage hits Starlink

CBC

timean hour ago

  • CBC

Global network outage hits Starlink

Starlink is experiencing a network outage, Elon Musk's SpaceX-owned satellite internet company said on Thursday, with Downdetector showing that the service was down for thousands of users. "Starlink is currently in a network outage and we are actively implementing a solution," it said in a post on X. The service will be restored soon, Musk said on X. "SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn't happen again." The service appeared to have experienced a "total outage" beginning around 3:13 p.m. ET, according to Doug Madory, an expert at the internet analysis firm Kentik. The outage is global and Starlink is not carrying any traffic right now, Madory told Reuters. He said such a sweeping interruption in service was unusual. "They haven't had one like this in a long time." There were 36,705 incidents of people reporting issues with the service as of 3:54 p.m. ET, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources. The satellite internet company is widely used in Canada's northern communities. Starlink has been credited with keeping groups safe while on the land and giving residents a way to access online classes and health services.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store