Growing industry interest in the Golden Dome missile defense system is only outstripped by the uncertainty about what that program will actually entail. To help cut through the clutter, Quantum Space has hired former MDA executive Richard Matlock to lead its defense business.
Missile Zelig: Matlock’s four-decade career has taken him from the Air Force to the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (better known as the Reagan administration’s “Star Wars” program). He’s served in a series of tech development and acquisition roles for the DoD, most recently as an advanced technology executive at the MDA.
What to watch: Matlock told Payload that the shape of the new system—including basics such as what it is and who will do it—still isn’t clear. The key thing he’s watching for now is the appointment of a Golden Dome “czar,” a high-level executive branch official tasked with coordinating the various organizations responsible for different aspects of missile defense.
Buzzword watch: The most novel (and controversial) aspect of Golden Dome is the push to station missile interceptors in orbit. Some “Star Wars” vets, including former NASA administrator and DoD research and engineering chief Michael Griffin, have questioned the efficacy of space-based interceptors. But Matlock said the term of art now is “multi-domain.”
“Right now, everything’s terrestrial—ships have anti-missiles on them, we have anti-missiles in the silo, [and] we have some on trucks like the THAAD,” Matlock said. “We’re going to be taking much greater advantage of the space domain…A single solution is probably not the best way to go after it, but how we integrate these complex effects across the board is the real systems engineering challenge.”
Another defense pivot: Space entrepreneur Kam Ghaffarian cofounded Quantum Space in 2022 to develop highly maneuverable satellites for a variety of in-space services, with a focus on building infrastructure around the Moon.
Now, the company is repurposing its Ranger spacecraft for defense applications, and has partnered with Astro Digital to participate in a Space Force satellite development program.
“What we’re bringing now is the adaptability to that architecture,” Matlock told Payload, “[with technologies] to maneuver and place those assets where they need to be placed, depending on the situation.”
