Rocket Lab wins record contract with US Department of War

RNZ

18 Mar, 2026 11:39 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listenAccess to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.Subscribe now

‌

SaveShare this articleCopy LinkEmailFacebookTwitter/XLinkedInReddit

Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Sir Peter Beck. Photo / Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab has won a US$190 million ($327m) contract from the United States Department of War, formerly the Department of Defence, for a series of hypersonic test flights using its Haste launch vehicle.

It is the largest single launch contract in the New Zealand-founded
company’s history and lifts its total order backlog to more than US$2 billion ($3.44b).

The four‑year agreement covers 20 test flights of Rocket Lab’s Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (Haste) rocket, a modified version of its Electron launcher designed to carry suborbital payloads of up to 700kg at speeds above Mach 5.

The launches will be carried out under the Multi‑Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH‑TB) 2.0 programme – a partnership between the Department of War and the Naval Surface Warfare Centre Crane Division that aims to accelerate hypersonic flight testing and related technologies.