Overview
- The companies announced the 2028 launch target on June 30 after a Stockholm briefing that publicized construction progress at Esrange Launch Complex 3C and a SEK 209 million contract with Sweden’s defense procurement agency.
- Most ground facilities are finished, with launch control, payload processing, vehicle integration and tracking systems in place and final pad and ground‑support work now under way at LC‑3C.
- Sweden and the United States have signed a Technology Safeguards Agreement and a Memorandum of Cooperation between SNSA and the FAA to streamline export controls and licensing for U.S. rockets flown from Sweden.
- The SEK 209 million agreement with FMV makes the Swedish Armed Forces an early customer, while Firefly will operate Esrange through a ‘launch as a franchise’ partnership with SSC rather than building its own site.
- The 2028 goal depends on technical and regulatory steps: Alpha has flown seven times and validated a second‑stage relight, a Block II test flight is due in late summer 2026, and final documentation, licensing and cross‑border flight corridor approvals must be completed before orbital operations begin.