MDA outlines Golden Dome’s SHIELD $151 billion contracting vehicle

SMD 2025 — With industry gathered together in Huntsville, Ala. on Thursday eager to hear new details about the ambitions of Golden Dome, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) revealed new details about plans for a second contracting vehicle that could top $151 billion, according to presentation slides reviewed by Breaking Defense.

The presentation described the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense, or SHIELD, that would take advantage of a new “versatile MDA vehicle” is envisioned to span 10-years and allow DoD entities to rapidly issue orders under one enterprise flexible arrangement. 

“Scope encompasses a wide range of works areas (19+),” said one slide marked “approved for public release.” While it did not provide a complete list of contract opportunities, it noted broader areas like prototyping, weapon design, cybersecurity, systems engineering and data mining.

MDA issued a public presolicitation notice for SHIELD towards the end of July, giving industry until Aug. 19 to respond. A final request for proposal, according to Thursday’s industry day slides, will hit the streets before Oct. 1.

RELATED: At missile defense conference, the first rule of Golden Dome is don’t talk about Golden Dome

So far, SHIELD is the second contracting vehicle for President Donald Trump’s plan to build a layered missile defense system for the continental United States. 

The initial one, called the Multiple Authority Announcement (MAA), was issued earlier this year and includes contracting areas for kinetic and hypersonic defense, space-based sensors and interceptors, command and control, and more. MAA, according to a second slide, is an acquisition tool geared toward targeting “disruptive technologies & rapid capability development from non-traditional sources.” Under the MAA umbrella, so far MDA has solicited proposals for advanced capability concepts, and electromagnetic protection and threat object discrimination.

In a response to questions today, MDA spokesperson Mark Wright emphasized that SHIELD and MAA are two “distinct opportunities” to partner with the government.

MDA slides also mentioned interest in a new common launcher, which Wright explained refers to the recent request for information for “Next Generation Missile Defense Under Lay Site Launchers.” That July 22 solicitation notes that MDA is interested in a launcher for current and future interceptors that can take down ballistic, hypersonic and advanced cruise missiles, as well as next-generation aerial attacks.

This week’s Golden Dome industry event came after a previously planned one was scrapped, and companies are eager to see how their portfolio of work can fall under the umbrella initiative. But as one source in attendance Thursday explained, it was “nothing earth shattering … and lots of adjectives and adverbs, but it’s a start.” 

Also, the presentation, which was not open to the public, provided the only significant glimpse specifically of government planning for Golden Dome this week, after sources told Breaking Defense that the Pentagon directed officials not to discuss the multi-billion-dollar initiative during public panels at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium here. (Industry, of course, was not so constrained, and several major firms highlighted capabilities they said could be brought to bear for the project.)

“Golden Dome for America remains a strategic imperative for the Department of Defense,” one Pentagon official wrote in an emailed statement to Breaking Defense. “As we continue gathering information from industry, academia, national labs, and other government agencies for support to Golden Dome for America, it would be imprudent for the Department to release further information on this program during these early stages, keeping operational security of this endeavor top of mind.”

As for upcoming industry engagements on the burgeoning initiative, one slide said there will be separate C2 data mesh and Integrated Battle Command System events forthcoming.