Defense tech funding and contracts roundup: May 2026

The first edition of this roundup — new contracts awarded in May 2026, pulled directly from the index's contract award dates, not editorial review timestamps. This runs monthly going forward.

Contracts

• SpaceX — Golden Dome Missile Defense Prime Contract, $30B, U.S. Space Force / MDA, cost-plus-incentive-fee (development) + fixed-price (production), awarded 2026-05-15. The largest single award recorded in the index to date.
• Anduril Industries — Golden Dome Missile Defense Subcontract, $5B, U.S. Space Force / MDA, awarded 2026-05-15, alongside the SpaceX prime award.
• SpaceX — Space Data Network Backbone, $2.29B, U.S. Space Force, firm-fixed-price with IDIQ task orders, awarded 2026-05-05.
• Hermeus — Digital Engineering Contract for High-Mach Aircraft, $219M, Defense Innovation Unit, OTA, awarded 2026-05-22.
• Rocket Lab — Space Force Geostationary Satellite Contract, $90M, U.S. Space Force, firm-fixed-price, awarded 2026-05-20.

What stands out

The two Golden Dome awards — a $30B SpaceX prime contract and a $5B Anduril subcontract, both dated 2026-05-15 — account for the large majority of the dollar value awarded in May, a reminder that a handful of large missile-defense and space awards can dominate a given month's totals more than the number of individual contracts suggests. See the DoD contract vehicles explainer for how to read the vehicle types listed above, or the methodology page for the full review cadence.