原文标题：
Musk's SpaceX is frontrunner to build Trump's Golden Dome missile shield
原文连结：https://tinyurl.com/mt699wxn
发布时间：Thu, April 17, 2025 at 6:04 p.m. GMT+8
记者署名：By Mike Stone, Marisa Taylor
原文内容：
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -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.
Musk's rocket and satellite company is partnering with software maker Palantir
and drone builder Anduril on a bid to build key parts of Golden Dome, the
sources said, which has drawn significant interest from the technology sector'
s burgeoning base of defense startups.
In his January 27 executive order, Trump cited a missile attack as "the most
catastrophic threat facing the United States."
All three companies were founded by entrepreneurs who have been major
political supporters of Trump. Musk has donated more than a quarter of a
billion dollars to help elect Trump, and now serves as a special adviser to
the president working to cut government spending through his Department of
Government Efficiency.
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.
The three companies met with top officials in the Trump administration and the
Pentagon in recent weeks to pitch their plan, which would build and launch
400 to more than 1,000 satellites circling the globe to sense missiles and
track their movement, sources said.
A separate fleet of 200 attack satellites armed with missiles or lasers would
then bring enemy missiles down, three of the sources said. The SpaceX group is
not expected to be involved in the weaponization of satellites, these sources
said.
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."
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.
The Pentagon did not respond to detailed questions from Reuters, only saying
it will deliver "options to the President for his decision in line with the
executive order and in alignment with White House guidance and timelines."
The White House, SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril also did not respond to
questions. After publication, Musk replied to a post about Reuters' story on
his social network X without elaborating: "This is not true."
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE
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.
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. 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, they added.
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.
U.S. Space Force General Michael Guetlein has been in talks on whether SpaceX
should be the owner and operator of its part of the system, the two sources
said. Other options include having the U.S. own and operate the system, or
having the U.S. own it while contractors handle operations. Guetlein did not
respond to a request for comment.
Retired Air Force General Terrence O'Shaughnessy, a top SpaceX advisor to Musk
, has been involved in the company's recent discussions with senior defense
and intelligence leaders, the two sources said. O'Shaughnessy did not respond
to requests for comment.
Should the group led by SpaceX win a Golden Dome contract, it would be the
biggest win for Silicon Valley in the lucrative defense contracting industry
and a blow to the traditional contractors.
However, those long-standing contractors, such as Northrop Grumman, Boeing and
RTX are expected to be big players in the process as well, people familiar
with the companies said. Lockheed Martin put up a webpage as a part of its
marketing efforts.
MANY BIDS
The Pentagon has received interest from more than 180 companies keen to help
develop and build the Golden Dome, according to a U.S. official, including
defense startups like Epirus, Ursa Major and Armada. Members of the White
House's National Security Council were briefed by a handful of companies about
their capabilities, four sources said.
The Pentagon's number two, former private equity investor Steve Feinberg, will
be a key decision-maker for Golden Dome, two U.S. defense officials said.
Feinberg co-founded Cerberus Capital Management which has invested in the
cutting-edge hypersonic missiles industry but not in SpaceX. Feinberg, who did
not respond to a request for comment, has said he would divest of all his
interests in Cerberus when he joined the administration.
Some experts believe the overall cost for Golden Dome could reach hundreds of
billions of dollars. The Pentagon established several timelines for
capabilities to be delivered starting with early 2026 to those delivered after
2030.
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.
SpaceX is pitching for the part of the Golden Dome initiative called the "
custody layer," a constellation of satellites that would detect missiles,
track their trajectory, and determine if they are heading toward the U.S.,
according to two sources familiar with SpaceX's goals.
SpaceX has estimated the preliminary engineering and design work for the
custody layer of satellites would cost between $6 billion and $10 billion, two
of the sources said. In the last five years, SpaceX has launched hundreds of
operational spy satellites and more recently several prototypes, which could
be retrofitted to be used for the project, the sources said.
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.
Despite these advantages, some of those familiar with the discussions said it
was uncertain whether the SpaceX group would be able to efficiently set up a
system with new technology in a cost-effective way that can protect the United
States from attack.
"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."
Separately, some Democrats in Congress expressed concern about Musk's bidding
on federal contracts while serving in the White House.
“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
.
Shaheen has introduced new legislation that would prevent federal contracts
from being issued to companies owned by any special government employee like
Musk.
U.S. Rep. Donald Beyer, D-Va, told Reuters he was also concerned about SpaceX
’s role given Musk’s unprecedented “inside access to non-public information
and data.”
“Any contracts awarded to him, or his companies, are suspicious,” he said.
心得/评论：
马斯克的 SpaceX 成为川普“黄金圆顶”飞弹防御计画的领跑者
华盛顿（路透社）——知情人士透露，伊隆·马斯克的太空公司 SpaceX 与两家合作伙伴
已成为川普总统“黄金圆顶”（Golden Dome）飞弹防御系统中关键部分的主要竞标者。
这三家公司分别为：
SpaceX（火箭与卫星）
Palantir（软件资料分析）
Anduril（无人机与防御科技）
根据消息人士，这三家公司正提出计划，负责建立并发射 400 到超过 1,000 颗卫星，用
来侦测飞弹与追踪轨迹。此外，还计划部署 200 颗配备导弹或雷射武器的攻击卫星（但
SpaceX 预期不参与武器化部分）。
三家公司近期与白宫与五角大厦高层会晤，推销其方案。虽然五角大厦对 SpaceX 团队释
出正面讯号，但整个“黄金圆顶”专案尚在初期阶段，未来架构与最终承包商仍有变量。
SpaceX 提出一项新颖的“订阅制”商业模式：美国政府将支付订阅费用以存取技术，而
非直接拥有整套系统。这可能能绕过传统采购程序、加快部署，但也引发美方对价格与控
制权的担忧。
据了解，SpaceX 正争取负责“custody layer”（监控层），即用来侦测飞弹、追踪与判
断是否朝向美国的卫星系统。此部分初期设计与工程预估花费为 60 亿至 100 亿美元。
五角大厦收到超过 180 家企业的提案，其中包括传统国防承包商（如洛克希德马丁、波
音、诺斯洛普与 RTX），也包括新创（如 Epirus、Ursa Major、Armada）。该专案最早
将于 2026 年推出初步能力，2030 年后全面完成。
尽管 SpaceX 拥有火箭与现成卫星的优势，许多专家仍对其是否能以具成本效益的方式打
造可靠防御系统感到怀疑。此外，马斯克作为政府特别顾问，又同时让其公司竞标联邦合
约，引发民主党人关注其利益冲突与资讯不对等。
==
计画名称：“黄金圆顶”（Golden Dome）
由川普政府主导的全球飞弹防御网计画。
目标：侦测、追踪与击落来袭飞弹，应对“对美国最具灾难性威胁”。
SpaceX 联盟提案内容：
建构 400–1,000 颗侦测与追踪飞弹的卫星（custody layer）。
配合 200 颗武装攻击卫星（但非由 SpaceX 操作）。
采用订阅制提供服务，而非政府拥有系统。
面向 优点 风险
速度 快速部署、不需经历冗长采购流程 跳过监察、难以问责
成本 初期开支较少 长期支出不透明，成本恐飙升
控制 灵活技术接入 主权弱化、缺乏主控权
技术 可用最先进商业解法 依赖供应商、系统黑箱化
国防原则 引入创新与竞争 违背军方稳定性与保密性原则