Redwire stock spiked 29% on Tuesday after it got picked to join the Golden Dome contract pool, a huge Department of Defense program under President Donald Trump. The pool is worth up to $151 billion, and it’s tied to building out next-gen missile defense systems across space, cyber, and air. Thousands of companies are now cleared to support the Missile Defense Agency under this effort. Redwire is one of them. Others include Palantir, Firefly Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, AeroVironment, Anduril, and Blue Origin. The government didn’t break down contract amounts yet, but these companies are officially eligible to take part. Trump signs order for global missile shield and pushes $1.5 trillion budget Trump first talked about the Golden Dome in May 2025. Back then, he said it would cost $175 billion and be running in three years. It was pitched as a full-scale U.S. version of Israel’s Iron Dome. But it’s a lot bigger. Some estimates now say it could hit $500 billion over 20 years. One analysis from the American Enterprise Institute says the final cost might even reach $3.6 trillion, depending on how it’s built. On January 27, 2025, Trump signed an executive order telling the military to start building what he called an “Iron Dome for America.” The name got changed a few months later to the Golden Dome . It’s meant to take out ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles before they land or even during launch. The hardware would be packed into thousands of small interceptors flying in orbit. These weapons would circle near the edge of space and be ready to react. Critics say the system has blind spots, since only a few interceptors would be in the right place at the right time. But Trump didn’t focus on that. He said the project has serious offensive power. “We have some very bad players out there,” Trump said. “But we can be far worse than anybody, if need be.” To support all of this, Trump is now pushing for a $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027. He calls it his “Dream Military.” It’s the largest peacetime defense spending plan ever floated by a U.S. president. Redwire expands into drones and joins largest weapons project ever attempted Redwire, based in Jacksonville, went public in 2021 during the SPAC craze that pulled a bunch of space startups into the market. The company builds space tools like cameras, antennas, and sensors. In 2025, it bought Edge Autonomy, a drone tech firm, for $925 million to grow its work in autonomous flight and surveillance. That deal now connects directly to its role in the Golden Dome . In 2025, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which gave $24.4 billion to start building the system. Another $13 billion was added for fiscal year 2026. Together, that’s 2.2% of the federal discretionary budget for the year. By December, more than 1,000 companies had made it into the contractor pool. A few got early deals, but they weren’t made public. Some reports said SpaceX will get $2 billion to launch 600 satellites for missile tracking. Elon Musk had previously denied any involvement, saying his focus was Mars. Other names like True Anomaly, Northrop Grumman, and Anduril also got contracts behind closed doors. Redwire hasn’t said what exact role it will play yet, but it’s in the game now. With billions already committed and more to come, every cleared vendor has a shot. The program is still taking shape, but the pool is set, and Redwire is locked in. If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter .
