Space Sierra Rocket Lab joins as an existing or previously VC-backed space company to close a major satellite deal with the military.
The Space Development Agency (SDA) has selected Sierra, along with Lockheed Martin and L3Harris, to build 54 satellites in deals worth a total of $2.5 billion. The news, announced today, follows news from last week that Rocket Lab was awarded a similar contract worth up to $515 million.
The award, along with Rocket Lab, shows that more and more companies are looking to capture a segment of the market that has until now been the exclusive domain of primary defense tools: military satellites. Recently, Sierra closed a $290 million Series B funding round that took its valuation to $5.3 billion.
The 54 satellites will form part of SDA’s Deployed Space Combat Architecture, a massive low-Earth orbit missile detection and tracking constellation that is built and launched in “strips.” The three contracts announced today are for 18 satellites each in Tranche 2: the L3Harris award is worth $919 million; Lockheed Martin, $890 million; and Sierra Space, $740 million.
“We are pleased to welcome newcomer Sierra Space as a key supplier to Team SDA, as we continue to work with L3Harris and Lockheed Martin on Tranche 2,” said Derek Tournier, SDA Director. statement. “The market is responding to the demand signals of our spiral development model. Flexible response across the space industry is critical as we provide warfighters with this zero-fail mission capability for missile warning, missile tracking and missile defense.”
The 54 satellites will consist of 48 dedicated to missile detection and tracking and 6 for missile defense. All will be equipped with infrared sensors, although the sensors on the six birds designated for missile defense will be able to generate what the missile defense system calls “fire control quality trajectories,” sensitive enough to guide an interceptor missile to shoot down an aggressor missile. . .
Although Lockheed and L3Harris have a long track record of satellite manufacturing contracts with SDA, this is the first award of its kind for Sierra Space. The latter company is best known for its Dream Chaser spaceplane project and the Orbital Reef private space station project, rather than large-scale satellite manufacturing.
The satellites are expected to be launched no later than April 2027.