Rocket Lab Secures Landmark $860M Contract for Missile-Tracking Satellites

Rocket Lab Secures Landmark $860M Contract for Missile-Tracking Satellites

Rocket Lab has been awarded an $816 million prime contract by the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) to design and manufacture 18 satellites for the Tracking Layer Tranche 3 (TRKT3) program under the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The satellites will provide global, persistent missile warning and tracking, including against emerging threats such as hypersonic weapons. 

Each spacecraft will be built on Rocket Lab’s Lightning satellite platform and equipped with the company’s next-generation Phoenix wide field-of-view infrared sensor payload, alongside StarLite space protection sensors designed to defend the constellation against directed energy threats.

The contract includes a $806 million base award with up to $10.45 million in options and represents Rocket Lab’s largest single contract to date. 

Beyond the prime award, Rocket Lab expects additional revenue opportunities as a merchant supplier to other TRKT3 primes, potentially bringing total program capture value to approximately $1 billion through the supply of payloads, solar solutions, avionics, software, and other subsystems.

Rocket Lab’s vertically integrated manufacturing model underpins the award, with the company designing and producing nearly all major satellite components in-house. 

This approach enables rapid scaling, tighter cost control, and accelerated delivery timelines, capabilities that are increasingly critical for national security space missions.

The TRKT3 award builds on Rocket Lab’s earlier $515 million SDA contract for 18 Transport Layer-Beta Tranche 2 satellites, bringing total SDA awards to more than $1.3 billion. 

Collectively, these wins signal growing confidence in Rocket Lab as a prime contractor and highlight its emergence as a serious competitor to traditional defense aerospace primes in national security space.

Image Credits: Rocket Lab