▲ 563 r/RKLB
Peter Beck communication letter to Rocket Lab's employees following the proposed acquisition of Iridium.
Hi everyone,
It’s a transformative day for Rocket Lab. Today we announced an agreement to acquire Iridium Communications Inc - yes, the Iridium – leading provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation, and timing satellite services.
With the completion of this deal, Rocket Lab will become a fully integrated, self-launching tier-1 space power, delivering critical communications capability to millions of users worldwide. We will become the only company in the world that can build their own satellites, launch their own rockets, and operate their own constellation across the only truly global network that provides coverage over every ocean, mountain, and airway.
So why Iridium?
You’ve long heard me talk about space applications being where the true value is in space. But to deliver space applications there are some big barriers.
1. Spectrum: It’s a finite resource. Because access to spectrum is limited and difficult to obtain, it plays an important role in enabling efficient operation of modern communications constellations. Iridium has spectrum in the form of L-band, the global gold standard for critical infrastructure, defense operations, and aviation/maritime safety networks.
2. Long wait to deploy infrastructure to generate your first revenue. It can take a decade or more to get your first cent from a new constellation. Iridium’s constellation of 66 satellites is operating right now.
3. Long time to build business model and customer base for sustained cash flow. It can take many more years to go from first revenue to real, sustainable revenue. Iridium is critical to 2.55 million subscribers and generated $871M in 2025 revenue.
As you can see, with Iridium as part of the Rocket Lab team we can leap over these barriers. By now you know that we don’t just acquire companies and sit on their existing capabilities. We apply the Rocket Lab magic to optimize and scale. We will leverage Iridium’s deep heritage and strategic backbone to scale into untapped markets and pioneer new space-based services to the benefit of global customers.
I encourage you all to read the full announcement here and watch the presentation here for the complete details. There is a regulatory process to complete before we can officially welcome Iridium to the Rocket Lab family, so stay tuned for the full completion of that, likely in mid-2027.
Please join me in celebrating this historic moment. What comes next is going to be a hell of a ride and we’re truly just getting started. Our future has just been unlocked and accelerated.
Thanks,
Pete
u/pakis54 — 6 days ago
▲ 221 r/RKLB
Formal invitation to a multi-billion-dollar space tracking market? (hopefully)
What the flying fuck are these pics and where are my monies u might ask?
Rocket Lab received a small $10,000 contract (pic 1) which is almost certainly their official entry ticket into a massive, multi-billion-dollar U.S. Space Force program called SB-AMTI (Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator).
this tiny contract is a formal mechanism to place Rocket Lab into an elite "vendor pool", Instead of a big payout upfront, it gives them the official clearance to compete for big orders down the line alongside SpaceX.
What is SB-AMTI?
According to the Space Force news release, SB-AMTI stands for Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator.
The Mission: Historically, tracking enemy aircraft, drones, and cruise missiles required flying large, vulnerable radar planes (like AWACS) through heavily defended airspace. SB-AMTI moves this capability entirely into space using a vast network of low-Earth orbit satellites.
Sooo...the goal is to eliminate military blind spots and create a global, un-blindable tracking system that operates at the "speed of relevance."
u can read more about that shit here:
but the key line is this:
that companies were selected into that framework through previously awarded OTAs,established a new SB-AMTI vendor pool
Sooo connecting the unconected (sorry wrong sub) the dots :
You can confidently link Rocket Lab's small contract to this major tracking program by looking at how perfectly its digital paper trail matches the multi-billion-dollar contract given to SpaceX.
The Matching Codes (PIIDs): 1st and 2nd pic PIIDs start with FA24.....and they are basically the same code, but the last 2 digits! The codes are nearly sequential, meaning they were processed out of the exact same government program pipeline most likely
The Same Contracting Office: Both documents show the exact same funding office: FA2401 - Space Development Agency / Space Systems Command.
2nd pic, SpaceX’s contract was signed on March 23 of 2026, while rklb's 1st pic contract was signed just one day later on March 24, 2026
What happened afterward
A few months later, the Space Force announced a $4.16 billion SB-AMTI award to SpaceX and disclosed that it had created a new SB-AMTI vendor pool. The announcement specifically says the government is using a multi-vendor framework and that numerous companies were selected through earlier competitive OTAs.
While Rocket Lab's specific details are restricted on public databases, the SpaceX system overview in pic 3, explicitly labels the Government Description for this exact contract series as "Sb-amti", its the small letters in the center.
Other Transaction Agreement (OTA): The military uses tiny token dollar amounts to legally bind a company to a broader program framework. It essentially establishes them as a vetted, capable supplier.
The Space Force press release explicitly highlights a "new SB-AMTI vendor pool." This initial contract is the government onboarding Rocket Lab into that group.
The military has openly stated they want a diversified pool of traditional and non-traditional vendors so they do not rely on any single provider. Now that Rocket Lab is officially inside the pool....i mean they have to get even a tiny fraction
so ya...the 10k, which in my original post which i thought it was 10mil, seems to be a formal invitation to new monies, to a space tracking market, hopefully making 10mil seem like pennies.
ya i used AI obviously i aint that smart for all this wall of text. so u have to double check things
u/pakis54 — 12 days ago
▲ 4 r/Soldier76Mains
Minor Perks
Why is everyone picking Helix Propulsion instead of taxtical salvo? what am i missing?
u/pakis54 — 22 days ago
▲ 2 r/ShadowBan
Have i been banned?
Hello, i have no clue if my acc got silenced? banned? or if there is something else going on...i dont see any rules violation or email from reddit, is there any way to know what kind of punishment i even got?
u/pakis54 — 26 days ago
▲ 195 r/RKLB
Nine years ago today, we launched Electron for the first time.
Nine years ago today, we launched Electron for the first time.
Later this year, Electron is expected to reach 100 launches, likely making it the fastest privately developed orbital rocket to hit that milestone.
From “It’s a test” to one of the world’s highest cadence launch vehicles in under a decade.
Here's a little walk down memory lane from that first historic launch.
u/pakis54 — 1 month ago
▲ 71 r/RKLB
Rocket Lab Post-Q1 Interview with Founder/CEO Sir Peter Beck and CFO Adam Spice
youtube.comu/pakis54 — 2 months ago
Not dispaying Afterhours in real time?
Was there a change in the app? i cant see after hours movements of stocks in real time, or did i press something and faked things up?
u/pakis54 — 2 months ago
▲ 293 r/RKLB
https://reddit.com/link/1t5qq3j/video/toibl03i0lzg1/player
TL;DR: The Pentagon is planning a massive 200-satellite "attack/interceptor" network.
SpaceX is reportedly backing out of the weaponized side of this.
Meanwhile, Rocket Lab has formed a strategic partnership with Raytheon for
Space-Based Interceptors, and their leadership dropped some thinly-veiled hints in an interview 1 year ago(!) about highly classified ("black") constellation programs of exactly that size.
Ok so here is what we know:
Raytheon, partnering with Rocket Lab, has been selected to demonstrate advanced capabilities for the United States Space Force’s Space Based Interceptor program.
The program is an important step in strengthening national missile defense capabilities.
+
On January 27,2025,Executive Order (EO) 14186was published stating:
“The threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks, remains the most catastrophic threat facing the United States.”
To address this threat, as directed by the Deputy Secretary of War, in coordination with the Golden Dome of America (GDA) Direct Reporting Program Manager (DRPM), the United States Space Force (USSF) established the Space-Based Interceptor (SBI) program, which is tasked to develop a space-based missile defense interceptor system that will demonstrate capability integrated into the Golden Dome of America (GDA) architecture by 2028.
Back in Aug 29, 2025, Richard French, Vice President - Business Development and Strategy, Space Systems for Rocket Lab, had an interview (video above)
The hosts ask about how scalable their satellite bus manufacturing actually is, specifically throwing out the number "200" and asking if they could sell 200 tomorrow.
Richard French immediately states they could do that, for customers needing spacecraft for "dynamic space operations" targeting things in the upper atmosphere and that something like that might or might not be discussed at this very moment back then in august 2025!
He then says these capabilities "might be described by a color."
In the defense world, a program described by a color is a euphemism for a "Black Program" (highly classified/top secret).
The interviewers immediately start laughing and smiling. It's a clear "wink and nod" moment.
He goes on to emphasize their "constellation class manufacturing" and how their assembly line is built to "Kaizen" the problem at every stage, aka "Kaizen a problem" means applying the Japanese philosophy of continuous, incremental improvement to solve inefficiencies, defects, or waste within a process, allowing them to pump out these units rapidly.
back then this was posted on sam .gov
"Geosynchronous Reconnaissance & Surveillance Constellation (RG-XX) Industry Day"
https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/88d72b7181d340cbb206017b3be82e0e/view
which now is inactive, but this pic below is the important part
so the interviewers were very aware of this program, which me personally had no idea, so that whole thing went over my head,
the other important part of course is, Space-X is stepping away from the kinetic/interceptor side creates a massive, multi-billion-dollar vacuum.
The DOD needs a manufacturer with constellation-class scaling capabilities to fill that void.
enter Raytheon!
Pentagon wants to build a tracking constellation, but the crucial detail is the separate fleet of 200 attack satellites armed to bring down enemy missiles.
In the public announcement, Raytheon confirmed they have been selected to demonstrate advanced capabilities for the US Space Force's Space Based Interceptor program.
Rocket Lab is building that shit it seems, sorry my presentation is not very good, these things basically evolved in this there were bids/and ideas for other things, obviously real details were kept secret from us, like there was this:
Space Force to select multiple companies for new geostationary satellite surveillance network
https://spacenews.com/space-force-to-select-multiple-companies-for-new-geostationary-satellite-surveillance-network/
like who know what happened with this...
anyways
You can re-watch the entire video interview on youtube here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=50xR3qOCxPQ
if u want to chase the story down the rabbit hole trypotran on twitter is ur man:
https://xcancel.com/um87777/status/2052089404273881555
u/pakis54 — 2 months ago