Anduril announces team for its Golden Dome space-based missile interceptor effort
by Mike Stone
WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) – Defense technology company Anduril Industries on Tuesday announced its consortium to develop space-based interceptors for the U.S. Space Force as part of the Trump administration’s “Golden Dome for America” missile defense initiative.
Unlike existing ground-based systems, the Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) program deploys weapons in orbit, allowing the U.S. military to intercept and destroy threats earlier in their flight path, intercepting missiles immediately after launch.
Anduril said its consortium includes Impulse Space, Inversion Space, K2 Space, Sandia National Laboratories and Voyager Technologies, bringing together commercial space startups and established research institutions to deliver what the company describes as “affordable, scalable” interceptor solutions.
The Department of Defense Space Force has awarded contracts to 12 companies to develop space-based missile defense interceptors with a total value of up to $3.2 billion. Other buyers include Northrop Grumman, RTX’s Raytheon, SpaceX and Lockheed Martin.
“Nearly peer-to-peer U.S. competitors have invested in exotic, highly maneuverable vehicles and pose significant challenges to protecting the U.S. homeland,” Gokul Subramanian, Anduril’s senior vice president of engineering, said in a statement.
The goal is to add an orbital layer to the United States’ homeland defense by demonstrating an integrated interceptor capability within the Golden Dome architecture by 2028.
Expected to cost $185 billion, Golden Dome plans to expand ground-based defenses such as interceptor missiles, sensors and command-and-control systems, as well as add space-based elements to detect, track and potentially counter threats from orbit.
Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, Gold Dome’s director, had previously identified the SBI program as the highest risk element of the initiative, citing scalability and affordability as key challenges. Directed energy weapons and new generation artificial intelligence represent the most promising technologies for reducing cost per kill.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
