Rocket Lab joins Raytheon on US Space Force Golden Dome interceptor program

Long Beach-based Rocket Lab Corporation announced that, in partnership with Raytheon, it has been selected to demonstrate advanced capabilities for the United States Space Force’s Space Based Interceptor program, a central building block of the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense architecture. 

RTX subsidiary Raytheon is one of 12 companies selected by the US Space Force as prime contractors for the space-based interceptor program. These vendors were awarded other transaction authority agreements, worth up to a combined $3.2 billion, by the Space Force’s Space Systems Command in late 2025 and early 2026, with an initial capability demonstration scheduled for 2028. 

Brad Clevenger, President of Rocket Lab USA, framed the program as a “national security priority” that the joint team was ready to address. 

A teaming role under Raytheon 

Rocket Lab itself is not a prime on the SBI program. Its role is to support Raytheon’s prototype work on a proliferated low-Earth orbit constellation, carrying kinetic interceptors that can destroy missiles during the boost, midcourse and glide phases of flight. The other 11 primes named alongside Raytheon are Anduril Industries, Booz Allen Hamilton, General Dynamics Mission Systems, GITAI USA, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Quindar, Sci-Tec, SpaceX, True Anomaly and Turion Space. 

The contracting model leans heavily on industry capital. On Rocket Lab’s first-quarter earnings call held the same day, Chief Financial Officer Adam Spice said that the SBI procurement structure requires bidders to fund early prototyping themselves to unlock larger production awards further down the line, calling Golden Dome “a very large opportunity, but there are gates that we’ve got to get through”.  

The Pentagon is requesting $17.5 billion in fiscal year 2027 for the Golden Dome program, of which only $398 million sits in the base budget. The architecture has also drawn European responses, including Leonardo’s Michelangelo Security Dome and Thales’ SkyDefender concept, both of which are modular, open, and scalable multi-domain architectures designed to protect critical infrastructure, sensitive areas, and national territory against ballistic, cruise and hypersonic threats. 

Defense work behind a record quarter 

The SBI selection lands as Rocket Lab’s defense backlog continues to expand. On May 7, 2026, the company posted record quarterly revenue of $200.3 million, a 63.5% increase year on year, and exited the quarter with $2.2 billion in backlog and access to more than $2 billion in liquidity. On the earnings call, management said launch backlog accounted for approximately 41.5% and space systems for 58.5%, with the total figure up 108% year-over-year. 

Rocket Lab also reported that 31 new Electron and HASTE contracts had been signed in Q1, plus five new dedicated Neutron launches, meaning that the company sold more launches in three months than during the whole of 2025. HASTE-related work, including a recently announced three-launch contract with Anduril Industries, has pushed the manifest past 70 missions.  

Rocket Lab forecasts second-quarter revenue of between $225 million and $240 million and reiterated that the maiden flight of its Neutron medium-lift launcher is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.The post Rocket Lab joins Raytheon on US Space Force Golden Dome interceptor program appeared first on AeroTime.

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