by By Mike Stone
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Space Force has awarded about half a dozen small Golden Dome contracts to build competing missile defense prototypes, launching a race for future contracts worth tens of billions of dollars, according to two sources briefed on the matter.
The awards went to several companies, including Northrop Grumman, True Anomaly, Lockheed Martin and Anduril, according to the sources.
The contracts represent a significant advance in the Pentagon’s efforts to detect and destroy enemy missiles and include prototype space-based interceptors and associated systems. While Reuters could not determine the size of the contracts, a Pentagon presentation in July seen by Reuters suggested the awards for interceptor contracts would be about $120,000 each.
The contracts have not yet been publicly announced, although a Space Force spokesman confirmed the awards and declined to name the contractors. The spokesman said contracts under $9 million do not need to be publicly disclosed.
The winners of these initial awards will compete for final production contracts that could be worth tens of billions of dollars.
The contracts will fund the development of competing prototype phase interceptors, which shoot down a rocket as it enters space, as well as the fire control stations, which will coordinate signals from satellites and help the interceptors launch and find their targets.
The Space Force awarded contracts to Northrop Grumman and Anduril worth $10 million, according to values printed in the Pentagon presentation in July, the sources said.
The names of the companies that won contracts in both award pools have not yet been disclosed.
The government had asked contractors to develop four different versions of interceptors to address threats at different altitudes and speeds, which have not yet been awarded.
A third source said the four interceptor pools could be combined into three.
A Northrop spokesman declined to comment. Anduril, Lockheed and True Anomaly did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The government has structured the various interceptor competitions with “prize pools” to incentivize rapid development. The largest pool of $340 million would be divided among companies that successfully complete an in-orbit test, with first place receiving $125 million and fifth place receiving $40 million, the July presentation said.
The ultimate price tag is significant: production contracts worth $1.8 billion to $3.4 billion annually, the July presentation said. But industry executives estimate that building and testing a single space-based interceptor prototype could cost between $200 billion and $2 billion.
The space-based intercept program represents a new approach to missile defense, placing weapons into orbit to destroy threats earlier in their flight path than is possible with current ground-based systems.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
