Tensor, a five person Los Angeles startup founded in 2025, is developing software defined radios for Link 182, the communications waveform selected for the Golden Dome space based missile defense system. The Space Force has committed $3.2B to interceptor prototypes with an…
Golden Dome is supposed to be a missile shield in space. Right now, one of its more basic problems is that the radio system picked to connect it still exists mostly as a waveform, meaning a software-defined signal pattern, not as production hardware you can bolt into satellites. That is why SpaceNews reported this week on Tensor, a Los Angeles startup founded in 2025, which says it wants to build software-defined radios, or SDRs, for Link-182, the communications standard the US Space Force selected for the Golden Dome interceptor layer.
The pitch sounds small until you look at the schedule. SpaceNews reported that the Space Force wants an initial Golden Dome capability by 2028 and has already awarded agreements worth up to $3.2 billion to 12 companies for interceptor prototypes. Tensor told SpaceNews the program could need thousands of Link-182 radios. The hard part is that Link-182 is still a software problem that now needs to become a manufacturing program on command.
Tensor is trying to wedge itself into that gap before the incumbents lock it down. SpaceNews reported that the company has five engineers on the prototype today, is backed by venture investor Christopher Klaus, and expects bench prototypes in the third quarter, ground demonstrations in the fourth quarter, and an orbital demo next year. Christopher Timperio, Tensor's co-founder, previously worked at Relativity Space and Vast, according to the same report.
That is a thin base for a defense architecture with a very short clock. SpaceNews reported that SpaceX already has a $57 million contract to demonstrate Link-182 satellite crosslinks by April 2027. SpaceWar, citing Leonardo DRS, reported that Leonardo DRS says it has already completed an on-orbit test of a secure space radio designed to support Missile Defense Agency Golden Dome priorities. Tensor is not competing in an empty field. It is trying to catch up to companies with contracts or claimed flight experience while still talking about bench hardware.
That matters because the communications layer is not some accessory to the interceptor story. It lets a proliferated missile-defense network act like a network at all. Gen. Michael Guetlein, the Director of Golden Dome, said at the Space Symposium that if boost-phase intercept from space is not affordable and scalable, "we will not produce it because we have other options to get after it," according to SpaceNews. Radios are where affordability and scalability stop being PowerPoint words and start becoming hardware constraints.
The broader Golden Dome numbers make the gap look even less forgiving. Ars Technica reported that the Trump administration has estimated the system at $185 billion, while some analysts think the cost could reach several trillion dollars. Cost inflation at that scale does not come only from launch vehicles or interceptors. It also comes from the dull parts of the stack, like whether the chosen waveform can be turned into reliable, space-qualified radios fast enough to support thousands of nodes.
Tensor's value, if it has one, is not that it changes Golden Dome by itself. It is that the company exposes where the program is immature. When a five-person startup with a prototype roadmap can plausibly argue for a seat in a critical defense network, the market is telling you the hardware base is still up for grabs. If Link-182 radios become a production race, incumbents like SpaceX and Leonardo DRS look better positioned. If they do not materialize on schedule, the bottleneck may be the network itself, not the interceptors that get the headlines.
Tensor says prototypes hit the bench in Q3. SpaceX has an April 2027 crosslink demo deadline. The Space Force wants initial capability in 2028. Physics is not offended by ambitious timelines. Manufacturing usually is.