{"id":127391,"date":"2026-01-10T00:57:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/127391\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T00:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T00:57:16","slug":"war-secretary-pete-hegseth-visits-long-beach-based-rocket-lab-as-part-of-his-arsenal-of-freedom-tour-long-beach-post-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/127391\/","title":{"rendered":"War Secretary Pete Hegseth visits Long Beach-based Rocket Lab as part of his \u2018Arsenal of Freedom Tour\u2019 \u2022 Long Beach Post News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth \u2014 dubbed \u201cSecretary of War\u201d by the Trump administration \u2014 visited the aerospace startup Rocket Lab\u2019s offices in Long Beach Friday, as part of a national tour<\/a> meant to buttress enthusiasm for the nation\u2019s manufacturing and defense sectors.<\/p>\n

During his visit, Hegseth toured parts of the company\u2019s engine development complex, a 144,000-square-foot warehouse formerly used as the headquarters of Virgin Orbit.<\/p>\n

In an address to about 200 employees, Hegseth said that companies like Rocket Lab are key in \u201cdominating\u201d aerospace, adding that breakthroughs in intel gathering and reconnaissance made possible missions like the U.S.\u2019s recent capture of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Hegseth called Rocket Lab the foundation of the nation\u2019s \u201cdefense industrial base\u201d and the key to gaining \u201chigh ground\u201d on the future theater of battle, in space.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are the engine of the new arsenal of freedom\u201d for the U.S. to \u201cproject its will anywhere, anytime without question,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War, poses for photos with Rocket Lab employees after giving a speech at the Long Beach facility on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

Hegseth concluded his remarks by promising a new era that rewards companies that invest in workers, expand capacity and bolster production \u2014 not stock buyback programs: \u201cIf you deliver for America, the government\u2019s going to have your back. If you don\u2019t, you should get in a different business.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u201cUSA\u201d chant briefly broke out among workers after he left the stage.<\/p>\n

When asked, a spokesperson for Rocket Lab said it was the company\u2019s role as a \u201cleading space manufacturer serving critical national security and defense programs\u201d that drew Hegseth to include it on the tour.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2006 in New Zealand, Rocket Lab moved its headquarters from Huntington Beach to Long Beach in 2020. It has since amassed about 2,600 employees \u2014 800 of whom work in Long Beach \u2014 with launch sites in New Zealand and Wallops, Va.<\/p>\n

In December, the company was awarded a $805 million<\/a> contract by the U.S. Space Force to develop 18 defense satellites meant to detect enemy missiles in low Earth orbit. Rocket Lab has launched 245 satellites, according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Engineers spent much of the day showing Hegseth around the production floor of the company\u2019s Rutherford rocket engine \u2014 a 3D printed, battery-powered engine first launched in the smaller Electron rocket in 2017 \u2014 and the newer Archimedes, a larger, methane-powered engine designed to propel their Neutron rocket, which is scheduled for inaugural launch later this year.<\/p>\n

These engines are a major investment for the U.S. forces, with the smaller Electron rocket being the second-most purchased behind a similar model made by rival SpaceX.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Friday marks one of the earliest stops Hegseth has made on his monthlong \u201cArsenal of Freedom Tour,\u201d starting with a visit to a naval shipyard in Newport News, Va., on Monday, and a military base in El Segundo on Thursday, according<\/a> to a news release from the Department of War.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War, visits Rocket Lab\u2019s Long Beach facility as part of his Arsenal of Freedom tour on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n

At the shipyard Monday, Hegseth told<\/a> a crowd of shipwrights he wants to see faster delivery and greater discipline on budgets, saying their work is critical to \u201cusher in a new golden age of peace through strength, a revival of our industrial base, all-American, made by the best Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also comes as President Donald Trump this week proposed a record $1.5 trillion in military spending, up from $900 billion this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rep. Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, was also in attendance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth \u2014 dubbed \u201cSecretary of War\u201d by the Trump administration \u2014 visited the aerospace startup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-127391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}