WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - The Pentagon's Missile

Defense Agency has begun the process of doling out contracts for

President Donald Trump's marquee Golden Dome missile defense

shield, according to a solicitation notice posted on Wednesday.

Golden Dome's ambitions mirror those of Israel's Iron Dome -

a homeland missile defense shield - but a larger, more complex

layered defense system requires a vast network of orbiting

satellites covering more territory.

The Multiple Award Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise

Layered Defense (SHIELD) contract represents a 10-year, $151

billion indefinite delivery vehicle designed to rapidly deploy

new defense capabilities to protect "United States homeland, its

deployed forces, allies, and friends" against ballistic,

hypersonic and cruise missile threats.

Proposal submissions are due on October 10, according to

a government bulletin published Wednesday afternoon.

The contract structure allows the Pentagon and other Defense

Department entities to rapidly issue task orders under a single,

flexible procurement mechanism rather than managing separate

competitive processes for each requirement. In essence, the

SHIELD contract could support the effort as a blanket vehicle to

centralize procurement, industry executives said.

Industry executives say companies are positioning themselves

to become authorized vendors under the expansive contract, which

the agency plans to award to all qualifying bidders rather than

selecting a limited number of contractors.

Work areas span 19 areas including early-stage research and

development to production, testing and sustainment of advanced

weapons systems.

Contractors such as Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), Northrop

Grumman ( NOC ), RTX, and Boeing ( BA ) have a variety

of missile defense systems and are expected to participate in

Golden Dome.

SpaceX, which was

part of a bid

for Golden Dome contracts alongside software maker Palantir ( PLTR )

, and defense systems manufacturer Anduril are

anticipated to put forth ideas.