Fledgling launch vehicle manufacturer Firefly Aerospace last week said the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has selected the company to provide the company’s Alpha rocket under a potential $700 million contract with a 10-year ordering period.
The award allows Firefly to compete for NRO launches through the agency’s Office of Space Launch Streamlined Launch Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Contract (SLIC). SLIC allows the agency to host competitions to obtain commercial launches for responsive space missions. Companies on the SLIC must have demonstrated at least one successful orbital launch and be based in the U.S.
The SLIC “simplifies the acquisition process of launch vehicles, providing maximum flexibility for a range of launch services,” NRO posted on the social media platform X last Thursday after Firefly made the announcement.
Bill Weber, Firefly’s CEO, said that his company has doubled the size of its facilities, and has focused on rapid production, test, and launch capabilities to meet “our customers’ urgent mission needs.”
Last fall, Firefly successfully launched a tactically responsive space domain awareness satellite for the U.S. Space Force in a project aimed at demonstrating the ability to quickly move a satellite from the production line to the launch pad and then into orbit.
Firefly is already scheduled to support a responsive on-orbit mission this year for NRO using the company’s Elytra launch vehicle.