Rocket Lab Corp. has secured a $266 million United States Space Force contract to conduct up to 18 suborbital missions over the next three years from a new launch site in Alaska, a move that underscores the Pentagon’s emphasis on rapid, frequent launch for missile defense testing and national security.
The contract, awarded through the Space Force’s Rocket Systems Launch Program, includes 12 guaranteed suborbital launches with options for six additional missions through 2028. Most of the launches will take place from a new Rocket Lab center at the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska, expanding the company’s launch network beyond its existing sites in Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand and Wallops Island, Virginia. The first mission under the contract is expected no earlier than the end of 2026.
The award is the largest yet for Rocket Lab as it broadens its role in U.S. national security space. While the company has built its reputation launching small satellites aboard its Electron rocket, the new contract is expected to support missile-defense missions using the Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron rocket, or HASTE, a suborbital variant of Electron designed for hypersonic flight testing.
Rocket Lab has declined to discuss specific missions but confirmed they will support missile defense, making HASTE the likely launch vehicle, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The platform has become an increasingly important asset for the Department of War and its Missile Defense Agency as they accelerate development and testing of hypersonic technologies.
The Alaska launch site also reflects a broader Space Force strategy to diversify launch infrastructure and reduce congestion at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Service officials have increasingly pointed to commercial spaceports as a way to accommodate smaller launch missions while preserving government-operated ranges for medium- and heavy-lift vehicles.
Launching from Kodiak offers operational advantages beyond easing congestion. Alaska provides access to high-inclination, polar and sun-synchronous trajectories that are difficult to achieve from many other launch locations. These orbital paths frequently are used for missile-warning, Earth observation and national security missions.
Rocket Lab, with production plants in Long Beach, California, and Aukland, New Zealand, said its newest launch complex will be built using systems and operational practices already proven elsewhere.
“They’re based off an operational framework that we’ve proven across our other locations so we can take that and establish it in other places, including allied nations looking for sovereign launch capability,” a Rocket Lab spokesperson told Air & Space Forces magazine.
Adding Alaska strengthens Rocket Lab’s global launch network while creating new opportunities for operational testing, the company said.
“Adding Alaska to our global network of launch locations gives us a critical vantage point for tests across the Atlantic and Pacific and it opens up more trajectories under operational conditions that can’t be replicated anywhere else,” the spokesperson said. “Establishing our fourth location in Alaska is about expanding to a new location where we can keep serving key missions.”
The latest award continues a strong year for Rocket Lab’s defense business. In March, the company received a $190 million order for 20 HASTE launches supporting the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Testbed 2.0 program for the Pentagon Test Resource Management Center. In May, defense technology company Anduril Industries selected HASTE to perform flight tests for evaluating hypersonic technologies.
The contract also comes as Rocket Lab prepares for the inaugural flight of Neutron, a larger launch vehicle intended to compete for medium- and heavy-class national security missions. While Electron continues to serve the small satellite market and suborbital testing, Neutron is designed to position the company for future competitions under the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch program.
The Rocket Systems Launch Program supports a broad range of War Department customers, including the military services, Missile Defense Agency, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and National Reconnaissance Office. By expanding launch options and increasing launch cadence, the program aims to provide government agencies with faster access to flight testing and technology demonstrations.
Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck said the award reflects the increasing importance of responsive launch capabilities as the U.S. seeks to strengthen its missile defense architecture.
“Cadence, iteration, and relentless execution are essential to maturing America’s missile defense capabilities, and that’s exactly what we bring with launch leadership,” Beck said in announcing the award. “The size and scale of this contract reflect the Space Force’s confidence in our ability to meet their urgent national security demands with speed, responsiveness, and scale, and we’re proud to provide the high-frequency launch capacity required to keep the U.S. ahead of global threats.”