The government could spend those funds on a host of areas under the new Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD, contracting vehicle, according to presentation slides reviewed by Breaking Defense.
While big primes appear to be positioning themselves for leadership roles, Leidos CEO Tom Bell told reporters the company doesn't need to be "Mr. Golden Dome."
High-power microwave weapons, however, require more research, according to the head of the Space and Missile Defense Command's Technical Center.
“How can we make the science and art of one human being able to control lots of different things easy enough to where I don't have to have four operators controlling a [single] robot?” asked Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch.
The two firms are focused on the lower tier aspect of Golden Dome, such as small drones and cruise missiles.
The Army's emphasis currently is "on the counterspace piece for space control, electronic warfare, really doing counter-communications," said Brig. Gen. Donald Brooks, deputy commanding general for operations at Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
The Space and Missile Defense Symposium organizer said the Pentagon asked them to shift discussion about the Golden Dome project to another event.
“The main thing, from a lesson learned perspective, is complexity, mass and an attempt to seek and hunt air and missile defenses,” said Army Space and Missile Defense Command head Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey.
The Space Force, however, has been lukewarm on funding support for what it calls "Space Access, Mobility and Logistics."
SES's American arm, SES Space & Defense, was awarded a five-year "Sustainment Tactical Network (STN) contract" to provide the US Army with satellite communications services.
Both companies told Breaking Defense that they have responded to the service's recent “request for solutions brief” but remain tightlipped on the path forward.