The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has selected 1,014 companies to take part in the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense program, a contract vehicle valued at up to $151 billion that is expected to underpin much of the so-called Golden Dome missile defense effort.
Golden Dome, introduced earlier this year under President Donald Trump, is intended to form a layered shield against advanced missile and cruise-missile threats. SHIELD is emerging as one of the program’s main procurement channels, providing the agency with a ready pool of companies to tap as individual requirements are defined.
The awards were disclosed in a contracts notice on December 2, 2025. MDA said it received 2,463 offers through the System for Award Management before selecting just over 1,000 firms for this first tranche.
Inclusion on the SHIELD list does not guarantee revenue. All work will be awarded through separate task-order competitions. The vehicle runs through December 2035 and allows performance at sites across the United States.
The agency said SHIELD is intended to streamline competition across a broad range of technical areas, from research and development to production, sustainment, and information technology services.
Building out the Golden Dome industrial base
The Pentagon has been positioning SHIELD as a way to widen participation in Golden Dome beyond a small group of major defense contractors.
Officials have described Golden Dome as a modular “system of systems” that will evolve over multiple phases, suggesting that many components and technologies are still being shaped. According to Trump, the system will integrate space-based sensors and interceptors with terrestrial radar and ground-launched missile defenses in a multi-tiered, open-architecture network designed for rapid detection and neutralization of inbound threats.
Early task orders are expected to focus on technology development and integration, including new sensor concepts, command-and-control tools, and potential interceptor designs. The size of the vendor pool indicates that MDA is preparing for a broad competition as it determines how the next stage of Golden Dome will be structured.
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