Rocket Lab Secures $515M Military Satellite Contract Amid Production Progress

• •Rocket Lab is producing eight of 18 military satellites for the SDA.
• •The satellites are scheduled for launch by July 2027.
• •Total contract value for military projects exceeds $1.3 billion.

Rocket Lab (RKLB) announced that it is making significant progress on its $515 million military satellite program, with eight of the 18 spacecraft for the Space Development Agency (SDA) now in production. The satellites are designed to support resilient military communications and are scheduled for launch by July 2027. In addition, Rocket Lab has secured a separate $816 million contract for missile-tracking satellites, bringing the total potential value of these contracts to over $1.3 billion. The company's Neutron rocket hardware is also progressing towards testing at Wallops Island. The SDA's Tranche 2 leadership team recently visited Rocket Lab's California facility to observe the assembly of the spacecraft. The production of key systems in-house is aimed at controlling costs and ensuring quality for national-security missions. The latest updates follow the completion of the program's critical design review in July 2025, which confirmed that the design met mission requirements.