Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX, Palantir, and drone maker Anduril are favorites to win a bid to build key parts of President Donald Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense shield, Reuters reported Thursday, citing six people familiar with the matter.

The three companies met with top government and Pentagon officials to present their plan, which involves 400 to over 1,000 satellites orbiting the globe to detect missiles, the sources told the news outlet.

Another 200 satellites would be armed with missiles or lasers to shoot down enemy missiles, three of the sources told Reuters, adding that SpaceX is not expected to be involved in the weaponization portion of the plan.

SpaceX has proposed implementing the defense plan as a subscription service where the government would pay for access to the technology, two of the sources said in the report.

The three companies did not immediately reply to requests for comment from MT Newswires.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)