Rocket Lab wins $266 million DoD contract for suborbital launches from Kodiak spaceport

Rocket Lab has secured a $266 million firm-fixed-price contract from the U.S. Department of Defense for at least 12 suborbital launches from the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska on Kodiak Island, with Alaska Aerospace Corporation, which owns and operates the spaceport, supplying the pads, range infrastructure, and mission control.

The contract covers 12 launches of Rocket Lab's HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) vehicle, a suborbital system the company frames as a hypersonics test platform for U.S. defense purposes, with an option for six additional missions. All work is to be completed by Dec. 31, 2028. Space Systems Command at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico served as the contracting activity; the solicitation drew three offers.

What Alaska Gets

The structure of the arrangement matters for understanding what Alaska gets out of it. Rocket Lab supplies the rockets and launch services; Alaska Aerospace Corporation supplies the pads, range infrastructure, and mission control at the 3,700-acre Kodiak facility. The model is analogous to how commercial launch companies lease pad access at Cape Canaveral or Vandenberg, meaning revenue flows to the state-owned operator without requiring Rocket Lab to build new U.S. ground infrastructure.

The Spaceport's History

The Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska is a dual-use commercial and military spaceport that has operated since 1998 on Kodiak Island, built around a former U.S. Coast Guard LORAN station. The facility includes a 17-story rocket assembly building and a mission control center with 64 workstations. It has supported U.S. government and commercial launches, but has also carried operational and financial risk: a 2014 launch failure damaged the launch tower and processing facilities, and repairs funded by state insurance cost between $26 million and $29 million.

The Rocket Lab award arrives alongside concurrent infrastructure expansion at the facility. Alaska Aerospace Corporation posted solicitations this week for mechanical and plumbing subcontractors to work on a new Pad 3D Complex at the site. That work is covered separately.

The Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska was built to serve sustained defense and commercial launch activity. The HASTE campaign's 2028 completion date covers the current contract period; whether it leads to further federal launch commitments at Kodiak is not addressed in the award documents.