Google in talks to join Trump’s Golden Dome programme, Bloomberg reports

Alphabet’s Google is in talks with the US Defense Department to help protect the data behind Golden Dome, Bloomberg reported on Friday. Sana Pashankar and Kiel Porter cited people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are not public. TNW has not independently verified the report.

Golden Dome is President Donald Trump’s plan to shield the US from foreign attack with layers of defences, from the ground to space. In March, Gen. Michael Guetlein, who runs the programme, said the Pentagon had added $10bn to its cost, as Courtney Albon reported for Air & Space Forces Magazine. That took the estimate to $185bn.

What the new group would do

The Pentagon is setting up a new industry group to secure the data that feeds Golden Dome’s military software, according to Bloomberg’s sources. Several companies are likely to join it.

Their task would be to keep data flowing into the programme’s new command-and-control software even under attack. Bloomberg’s examples include attempts to cut off landlines, cell towers and other communications links.

The talks with Google have focused on its data storage, networking and cybersecurity work, one of the people said. They are at an early stage, and plans could change. Aalyria, a networking company spun out of Google, is part of the group, the people added.

A Pentagon official told Bloomberg that the office may explore early concepts. No final decision has been made on a new group or on which companies would join it, the official said. Google and Aalyria declined to comment to Bloomberg.

Google and the Pentagon

A separate group that includes Anduril, Palantir and SpaceX is building the command-and-control software itself. SpaceX also won a $2.29bn Space Force contract in May for the Golden Dome backbone.

A role would be Google’s first publicly known work on Golden Dome, Bloomberg reported. In 2018, thousands of Google employees protested against Project Maven, a Pentagon AI contract, and Google did not renew it.

In April, Google signed a classified AI deal with the Pentagon. Google DeepMind’s UK staff then voted to unionise, with 98% in favour.