California startup to demonstrate space weapon on its own dime

""All of the pieces that are required to make it viable exist." Defense contractors are in full sales mode to win a piece of a potentially trillion-dollar pie for development of the Trump administration's proposed Golden Dome missile shield. CEOs are touting their companies' ability to rapidly spool up satellite, sensor, and rocket production. Publicly, they all agree with the assertion of Pentagon officials that US industry already possesses the technologies required to make a homeland missile defense system work."

"The challenge, they say, is tying all of it together under the umbrella of a sophisticated command and control network. Sensors must be able to detect and track missile threats, and that information must rapidly get to weapons that can shoot them down. Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force's top commander, likes to call Golden Dome a "systems of systems.""

"Like the Star Wars concept 40 years ago, Golden Dome's pièce de résistance will be a fleet of space-based interceptors loitering in orbit a few hundred miles overhead, ready to shoot down missiles shortly after they are launched. Pentagon officials haven't disclosed the exact number of interceptors required to fulfill Golden Dome's mission of defending the United States against a volley of incoming missiles. It will probably be in the thousands."

Defense contractors are in full sales mode to pursue a potentially trillion-dollar market to develop the Trump administration's Golden Dome missile shield. CEOs assert their companies can rapidly scale satellite, sensor, and rocket production. Pentagon officials and industry state that US firms possess the technologies required for a homeland missile defense. The core challenge is integrating sensors, weapons, and decision-making into a sophisticated command-and-control network that rapidly conveys tracking data to interceptors. Golden Dome's central element is a fleet of space-based interceptors loitering in orbit, likely numbering in the thousands. The Defense Department requested prototype proposals and plans agreements with multiple companies under an unusual procurement approach that requires contractors to spend their own money.

Read at Ars Technica