"Golden Dome"

 Of course it has the word gold in its name.

Elon Musk's SpaceX and two partners have emerged as frontrunners to win a crucial part of President Donald Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense shield, six people familiar with the matter said.

  Reuters

Oooh, the suspense is killing me. Who will win?

Reuters reviewed an internal Pentagon memo from Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth issued shortly before a February 28 deadline to senior Pentagon leadership asking them for initial Golden Dome proposals and calling for the "acceleration of the deployment" of constellations of satellites.

The time frame could give SpaceX an advantage because of its fleet of rockets, including the Falcon 9, and existing satellites that could be repurposed for the missile defense shield, the people familiar with the plan said.

[...]

Musk's rocket and satellite company is partnering with software maker Palantir (PLTR.O), opens new tab and drone builder Anduril on a bid to build key parts of Golden Dome.

[...]

All three companies were founded by entrepreneurs who have been major political supporters of Trump.

[...]

In his January 27 executive order, Trump cited a missile attack as "the most catastrophic threat facing the United States."

No. No, it's not. Trump is.

And if Trump weren't such an asshole, we wouldn't be needing a missile defense dome.

Despite the Pentagon's positive signals to the SpaceX group, some sources stressed the decision process for Trump's Golden Dome is in its early stages. Its ultimate structure and who is selected to work on it could change dramatically in the coming months.

Well, that's no lie. Anything that has to do with Trump making a decision could change dramatically in the coming minutes.

One of the sources familiar with the talks described them as "a departure from the usual acquisition process. There's an attitude that the national security and defense community has to be sensitive and deferential to Elon Musk because of his role in the government."

You think? His role in the government and his millions of dollars to get Trump elected.

SpaceX and Musk have declined to comment on whether Musk is involved in any of the discussions or negotiations involving federal contracts with his businesses.

Oh, gee. That's a bit of a mystery, eh?

After publication, Musk replied to a post about Reuters' story on his social network X without elaborating: "This is not true."

In an unusual twist, SpaceX has proposed setting up its role in Golden Dome as a "subscription service" in which the government would pay for access to the technology, rather than own the system outright.

Of course! Keep that money coming in. Not even rent to own?

The subscription model, which has not been previously reported, could skirt some Pentagon procurement protocols allowing the system to be rolled out faster, the two sources said.

Oh, sure, sure. That's the reason. Big hurry here. Canada may be launching those missiles any day now.

While the approach would not violate any rules, the government may then be locked into a subscription and lose control over its ongoing development and pricing.

Yes, I think that's the fucking point.

Some Pentagon officials have expressed concerns internally about relying on the subscription-based model for any part of the Golden Dome, two sources told Reuters. Such an arrangement would be unusual for such a large and critical defense program.

No shit. You're in the middle of being attacked? Oh, so you really need it, don't you? Whoops, your subscription cost just went up.

No problem, Pete Hegseth is head of the Pentagon. He'll just rubber stamp it.

Laura Grego, research director at the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, questioned the feasibility of such a defense system given that multiple studies have concluded it is a “bad idea, expensive and vulnerable.”

“Such a system could be overwhelmed by launching multiple weapons at the same time, pushing the required size of the defense to very large numbers – potentially in the tens of thousands of satellites,” Grego said.

Shut up, Laura. There's a plane leaving for El Salvador tonight.

"It remains to be seen whether SpaceX and these tech companies will be able to pull any of this off," said one of the sources. "They've never had to deliver on an entire system that the nation will need to rely on for its defense."

Hey, that didn't prevent the F-35 boondoggle.

Separately, some Democrats in Congress expressed concern about Musk's bidding on federal contracts while serving in the White House.

Like, Susan Collins concern?

“When the richest man in the world can become a Special Government Employee and exert influence over the flow of billions of dollars of taxpayer money in government contracts to his companies, that’s a serious problem,” said U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Armed Services Committee.

Yes, Jeanne, yes it is. But we're just shouting into the void here.

Shaheen has introduced new legislation that would prevent federal contracts from being issued to companies owned by any special government employee like Musk.

That'll be dead on arrival.