Rocket Lab wins another defense-related space contract

Rocket Lab has won an $816 million contract — its largest to date — with the U.S. Space Development Agency 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 defense 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 defense and has more recently said it would bid for multibillion-dollar Department of Defense initiatives like Golden Dome.