Overview
- Rocket Lab, which disclosed Thursday it is teaming with Raytheon, will help demonstrate Space Force technology for a space-based interceptor layer under the Golden Dome architecture.
- Rocket Lab is not a prime contractor and will support Raytheon’s prototype work for a low‑Earth‑orbit constellation that carries kinetic interceptors to strike missiles in boost, midcourse, and glide phases.
- Space Systems Command is running the interceptor effort through Other Transaction Authority agreements that push companies to invest their own funds early, with a combined prototyping pool of up to $3.2 billion and a first demonstration planned for 2028.
- A separate agreement with Anduril covers three hypersonic test flights on Rocket Lab’s HASTE suborbital vehicle from Launch Complex 2 in Virginia, with the first mission expected within 12 months and funded by Anduril.
- Rocket Lab reported record first‑quarter revenue of $200.3 million and a $2.2 billion backlog as defense and HASTE work expanded, while the Pentagon’s $17.5 billion FY2027 request for Golden Dome highlights the program’s scale.