Approaching the heels of one other giant launch deal, Firefly Aerospace introduced it offered as much as 20 flights on its Alpha rocket to L3Harris. The settlement would see these missions fly between 2027 and 2031.
Underneath the deal, Firefly would supply between two to 4 Alpha rockets per 12 months based mostly on the readiness and want from L3Harris. The settlement comes along with a three-launch contract with L3Harris for launches in 2026.
“The Firefly group is proud to construct on our present relationship with L3Harris and function a long-term launch supplier for his or her strong satellite tv for pc methods,” mentioned Peter Schumacher, Interim CEO at Firefly Aerospace, in a press release. “Firefly continues to see rising demand for Alpha’s responsive small-lift providers, and we’re dedicated to offering a devoted launch possibility that takes our clients on to their most popular orbits.”
The deal is the primary main announcement for the corporate since its former CEO, Invoice Weber, stepped down abruptly in mid-July. Schumacher is serving because the interim CEO whereas the board continues its seek for a everlasting alternative.
The satellites launching on these almost two dozen missions haven’t been introduced publicly, however when Firefly introduced the three-launch deal in 2023, Weber described the payloads as being “satellite tv for pc methods that advance our nationwide safety.”
All of those missions will launch from House Launch Complicated-2 (SLC-2) at Vandenberg House Power Base in California.
Firefly’s announcement on Wednesday comes about two months after it introduced one other an settlement with Lockheed Martin for 15 Alpha launches with the choice so as to add as much as 10 further launches.
The primary of those would be the subsequent launch for Firefly in addition to the sixth launch of an Alpha rocket. FLT006 will launch from SLC-2 at Vandenberg. Not like the L3Harris settlement, Firefly plans to launch the missions for Lockheed Martin from each the east and west coasts.
These East Coast missions will launch from Pad-0A on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) inside NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The breakdown of what number of missions will launch from which coast hasn’t been introduced.
