Musk is not persona non grata. SpaceX will receive a contract for satellites to the Golden Dome

Elon Musk's SpaceX will receive a contract worth $2 billion to develop satellites that will be used in the planned Golden Dome anti-missile shield, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The company is also expected to develop two other satellite networks for the Pentagon.

As reported by the daily, SpaceX is to receive funds approved by Congress in July for the construction of the Golden Dome, an anti-missile shield which, according to Donald Trump's announcements, would be capable of shooting down enemy missiles from space.

The satellites to be built by Musk's company are intended to track the flight of missiles and planes. SpaceX is one of several companies bidding for contracts to build elements of the system. Next to them are, among others: a new player in the arms market Anduril and Palantir owned by Musk's former business partner, Peter Thiel, as well as traditional industry giants such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris.

However, these first companies promised to build the system at a rapid pace, which is a priority for the Trump administration. The president has promised to complete the shield by the end of his term, which critics say is an unrealistic goal, as is the $175 billion cost that Trump has talked about.

According to “WSJ”, Musk's company – which has partially repaired its relations with Trump due to a heated argument – is also to receive contracts for the construction of two other satellite networks for the Pentagon: Milnet, which will be used to transmit sensitive military information, and another one used to track vehicles on land.

Although SpaceX has extensive experience and results in deploying satellite constellations, including for the Ministry of Defense, the newspaper notes that some politicians in Washington are afraid that the Pentagon is too dependent on one company. In the past, they have repeatedly raised concerns about Musk's Chinese business connections and his contacts with Vladimir Putin and Kremlin people.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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