Space Force Seeks Space Interceptor Prototypes

November 2025

The U.S. Space Force issued an Oct. 4 request for prototype proposals for space-based interceptors, setting up a competitive award structure for the early stages of the acquisition program.

According to a Sep. 15 report by Breaking Defense, the Pentagon plans to award prizes in the low hundreds of millions of dollars to industry teams that succeed at four milestones: a ground test, two flight tests, and an intercept test by June 2029. The trade press outlet reported skepticism from industry sources that the awards would be large enough incentives.

A request for information issued by the Space Force in June indicated that the service was interested in endoatmospheric interceptors for boost-phase intercept as well as exoatmospheric interceptors for boost-phase or midcourse intercept. The request indicated the project also would include development of ground elements of the space-based interceptor system and fire-control software.

Gen. Michael Guetlein, the Space Force officer appointed to lead the broader Golden Dome effort, briefed Congress twice in September behind closed doors on his newly developed architecture for U.S. missile defense. (See ACT, September 2025.) House and Senate negotiators will decide on reporting and oversight requirements for the missile defense program as they proceed to conference over this year’s defense authorization act, following the Senate’s passage of its bill Oct. 9.

In August, the Defense Department removed nearly 100 programs, including a space-based missile warning constellation, from the oversight purview of the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation. This attracted the attention of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), who criticized the diminution of the independent testing office’s role in an Oct. 15 letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.—XIAODON LIANG