‘Golden Dome’ a Shiny Lure for Defense Tech Startups. It’s Still a Long Road to a Payoff.

The stars are aligned for VC-backed weapons companies, but changing Pentagon procurement practices won't be easy.

Like prospectors in the old West, defense tech startups are eyeing Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to strike it rich. Whether their optimism will translate into upending the status quo and pulling business away from the military industrial stalwarts of the last 50 years is less clear.

It’s been only a few weeks since Trump signed his budget bill, which allocated $24 billion for initial development of the missile shield as part of a $151 billion pot for high-tech weaponry. With some estimates pegging the total cost of Golden Dome at upwards of $500 billion over the next 20 years, venture backed defense startups are already scrambling for a piece of the action.