Rocket Lab has secured a $266 million (NZ$460 million) contract with the United States military.
The New Zealand-founded aerospace company said the contract, its biggest to date, had been awarded by the US Space Force.
Rocket Lab's share price jumped nearly 5% following the announcement.
Under the contract, Rocket Lab will conduct 12 suborbital launches, with up to six additional launches as part of the Space Force's Systems rocket systems launch program.
The launches will largely take off from Rocket Lab's new facility in Kodiak, Alaska. The first launch was expected to take place near the end of the year.
“Cadence, iteration, and relentless execution are essential to maturing America’s missile defence capabilities, and that’s exactly what we bring with launch leadership," Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck said.
"The size and scale of this contract reflects the Space Force’s confidence in our ability to meet their urgent national security demands with speed, responsiveness, and scale, and we’re proud to provide the high-frequency launch capacity required to keep the US ahead of global threats.”
In March, Rocket Lab secured a US$190 million contract with the US Department of War for a block buy of 20 hypersonic test flights with its HASTE launch vehicle.
The company agreed to acquire satellite communications company Iridium in June, a deal valued at about US$8 billion.
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