Rocket Lab (RKLB.US)'s $515 million military satellite project is underway, and 8 of the 18 satellites have already been put into operation

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the stock price of Rocket Lab (RKLB.US) rose more than 1% before the Wednesday market. The company previously highlighted the progress of its $515 million military satellite project, saying that out of 18 spacecraft built by the US Space Development Administration (SDA), 8 have already entered production.

RKLB surged 8% to $58.31 on Tuesday, rising for the third consecutive trading day.

Rocket Lab focuses on production sites

Members of the SDA “Tranche 2” (Tranche 2) leadership team recently visited Rocket Lab's headquarters in California to view the spacecraft assembled for the agency's Tranche 2 Transport Layer-Beta project. “Eight of the 18 spacecraft are currently under construction at the production site,” Rocket Lab said on the X platform.

The company also emphasized its ability to produce its own solar panels, structural components, star sensors, reaction wheels, radios, flight software, avionics, and transmitter distributors.

“Large-scale architectures require large-scale production. Rocket Lab is fully committed to the SDA mission, as evidenced by our actions on the production site. We are proud to deliver this project,” the company said. These satellites are based on Rocket Lab's Lightning platform. The company has said that in-house manufacturing critical systems can help it control costs, quality, and schedule when scaling up production for national security tasks.

Prior to the latest developments, the project completed a critical design review in July last year to confirm that the design and manufacturing plan met the mission requirements and cleared up barriers to full mass production.

Rocket Lab's $1.3 billion defense business footprint

The $515 million contract was announced in 2024, and Rocket Lab National Security is responsible for the design, construction, testing and operation of 18 satellites. According to the company's project overview, the agreement included a base value of $489 million and $26 million in incentives and options.

These spacecraft will support SDA's “diffuse fighter space architecture,” a satellite network that can provide resilient military communications and other defense capabilities. According to the SDA schedule, Rocket Lab will launch its satellites no later than July 2027, operating in two orbital planes, with 9 spacecraft per orbital plane.

In December 2025, Rocket Lab expanded its SDA business with another $816 million contract involving 18 Tranche 3 Tracking Layer satellites. These spacecraft will carry sensors for missile warning and tracking, including hypersonic threat detection. The combined potential value of the two contracts is over $1.3 billion.

Neutron moves towards launch site testing

The day before the defense business update mentioned above, Rocket Lab said that the Neutron rocket stage 2 and thrust modules are being shipped to its Wallops Island launch site for ground system testing.

Neutron's first flight is still scheduled for 2027 due to issues with the first-class tank dome manufacturing. Cantor Fitzgerald expects it to fly for the first time in the second quarter and reaffirms its “bulking” rating and $122 price target after Rocket Lab's most recent Electron mission. Meanwhile, Electron recently completed its 98th launch and delivered three HawkEye 360 satellites during Rocket Lab's 19th launch in 2026.

On Stocktwits, RKLB's retail sentiment has improved from “bearish” a day ago to “neutral,” and the 24-hour news volume surged 94%.

One user said, “When you don't see price fluctuations like last week, don't worry, a lot of things are underway on the production side, which will eventually turn into contracts and funding projects for military and other secret projects. That's why watching stock prices doesn't determine how well the company will produce in the future.”

Another user said, “The RKLB four-hour line is becoming overbought. I expect it to pull back to the $50-54 range to cool down the four-hour line. The weekly and daily lines are still very oversold. I might sell all of my positions at an average price of $59 and buy at a lower level during the pullback to buy 2,000 more shares.”

RKLB shares are down 16% so far this year.