SpaceX has secured a contract worth over $4 billion from the U.S. Space Force to build satellites to track foreign aircraft and missiles as part of President Trump's 'Golden Dome' plan.
SpaceX, the space company led by Elon Musk, has announced that it has secured a $4.16 billion (approximately 660 billion yen) contract with the U.S.
US Space Force Accelerates Fielding Space Based Airborne Target Indicator Program > Space Systems Command > Article Display
https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/Article-Display/Article/4503728/us-space-force-accelerates-fielding-space-based-airborne-target-indicator-progr
SpaceX Gets $4.16 Billion Contract From US Space Force to Target, Track Airborne Threats | Morningstar
https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202605299020/spacex-gets-416-billion-contract-from-us-space-force-to-target-track-airborne-threats
SpaceX wins $4.16 billion US Space Force contract for threat-detection satellites | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/science/us-space-force-awards-spacex-416-billion-deal-2026-05-29/
On May 29, 2026, the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command announced that it had signed a $4.16 billion contract with SpaceX as part of the Space-Deployed Mobile Aerial Target Detection (SB-AMTI) project, which aims to detect and track aerial threats worldwide from space. According to the announcement, the contract is intended to accelerate the delivery of the 'space-deployed sensing layer,' a satellite network that will detect and track aerial threats from space.
In January 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order supporting the submission of the 'Iron Dome for America' multi-layered missile defense system plan, and in May 2025, the new space-based missile defense system ' Golden Dome ' plan was announced. It has been reported that the contract will entrust SpaceX with the manufacture of the missile tracking satellites to be used in the Golden Dome plan.
The U.S. Space Force stated in a press release that it expects to launch a constellation of satellites by 2028, providing the unified command with the ability to quickly address operational blind spots.
The U.S. Space Force has stated that it has several potential vendors for SB-AMTI, including SpaceX, and expects to sign several contracts over the next year. Colonel Ryan Fraser, who is in charge of space-based sensing and targeting, said, 'We are working with a wide range of vendors, including established and emerging companies, to avoid relying on a single company. By having each company offer different capabilities, we aim to maintain a highly competitive industrial base that will support SB-AMTI and ensure that the unified forces will benefit from it in the future.'
Benjamin Giltner, a defense and foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute , a Washington D.C.-based think tank, points out that 'the Golden Dome project has obvious problems.' The U.S. Space Force manages an annual budget of $15.6 billion (approximately 2 trillion yen), but according to Giltner, the Golden Dome project is estimated to cost between $844 billion (approximately 13 trillion yen) and $1.1 trillion (approximately 17 trillion yen). Giltner criticizes the Golden Dome project, saying, 'When allocating defense funds, we must verify whether the weapons and systems truly serve the national interest and whether there is a strategic need for them. However, the Golden Dome project is unlikely to pass this test. The problem lies in the enormous opportunity cost. Why should the United States spend trillions or even hundreds of trillions of yen on a missile defense system that is highly likely to fail? The federal government has far more effective uses for funds than wasting them on a defense system with little strategic benefit.'
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