Rocket Lab has won an $816 million contract — its largest to date — with the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) as the company continues to diversify beyond its “rocket company” label.
The company said Friday that its subsidiary, Rocket Lab USA, was awarded a prime contract by the Space Development Agency (SDA) to design and manufacture 18 satellites. The satellites will be equipped with advanced missile-warning, tracking, and defence sensors for the agency’s Tracking Layer Tranche 3 program.
This contract is separate from an existing $515 million award to deliver satellites for the SDA’s Transport Layer-Beta Tranche 2 program. That program aims to provide a satellite communications network in low Earth orbit that sends encrypted, low-latency data to the military.
Together, Rocket Lab has SDA contracts valued at more than $1.3 billion.
Rocket Lab has expanded into defence and, more recently, said it would bid on multibillion-dollar Department of Defence initiatives such as Golden Dome.
