{"id":127458,"date":"2026-01-10T01:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T01:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/127458\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T01:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T01:45:11","slug":"defense-secretary-hegseth-visits-rocket-lab-facility-in-long-beach-on-arsenal-of-freedom-tour-press-telegram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/127458\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense Secretary Hegseth visits Rocket Lab facility in Long Beach on \u2018Arsenal of Freedom\u2019 tour \u2013 Press Telegram"},"content":{"rendered":"

Work on the production floor at Rocket Lab\u2019s Engine Development Complex in Long Beach halted on Friday afternoon, Jan. 9, as more than 200 employees cheered and welcomed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who visited the space company.<\/p>\n

Hegseth made Rocket Lab\u2019s manufacturing facility one of his stops in his nationwide tour of defense industrial bases, dubbed the \u201cArsenal of Freedom\u201d tour. The monthlong campaign aims to promote one of the Department of Defense\u2019s top priorities: rebuilding the military by engaging with the defense industrial base at various stops throughout the country, according to the Defense Department.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab wrapped the tour\u2019s first week, officials said, as it is one of the \u201cfront and center\u201d companies that are part of the effort, Hegseth said. On Monday, the tour stopped at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, which is building next-generation submarines.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab is a publicly traded space company that manufactures and launches advanced rockets, satellites and spacecraft components, according to the company\u2019s website. Its Electron launch vehicle is the world\u2019s leading small rocket; it was first launched in 2017, and is now the second-most frequently launched U.S. rocket behind those from SpaceX.<\/p>\n

The Electron rocket has successfully deployed satellites for NASA, the Space Force, the Air Force, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office. Rocket Lab also uses a suborbital variant of Electorn to enable rapid, reliable and cost-effective suborbital hypersonic test launch capability for the U.S. government, officials said. The company employs 2,500 people and is headquartered in Long Beach.<\/p>\n

Before addressing the crowd of Rocket Lab employees, Hegseth toured the production floor for the Rutherford and Archimedes rocket engines with company founder and CEO Peter Beck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege to show the secretary around,\u201d Beck told employees before Hegseth took the stage. \u201cHe is leading the change to revigorate the national industrial base and create a more effective Department of War, one that goes faster and leans on commercial companies just like ours.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour efforts are the backbone to America\u2019s national security and the space program,\u201d Beck added, \u201cand I\u2019m thrilled that the secretary has been able to see all your work first-hand and up close, so congratulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The facility erupted in cheers, and \u201cThunderstruck\u201d by AC\/DC became the soundtrack to which Hegseth walked out and shook hands with some of the space company\u2019s employees.<\/p>\n

\"Defense<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, center, poses for photographs with Rocket Lab employees during his \u201cArsenal of Freedom\u201d tour in Long Beach on Friday, January 9, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Defense<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to nearly 200 Rocket Lab employees during his \u201cArsenal of Freedom\u201d tour in Long Beach on Friday, January 9, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Defense<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to nearly 200 Rocket Lab employees as part of his \u201cArsenal of Freedom\u201d tour in Long Beach on Friday, January 9, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Defense<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to nearly 200 Rocket Lab employees as part of his \u201cArsenal of Freedom\u201d tour in Long Beach on Friday, January 9, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Defense<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to nearly 200 Rocket Lab employees during his \u201cArsenal of Freedom\u201d tour in Long Beach on Friday, January 9, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Defense<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to nearly 200 Rocket Lab employees during his \u201cArsenal of Freedom\u201d tour in Long Beach on Friday, January 9, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 6<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, center, poses for photographs with Rocket Lab employees during his \u201cArsenal of Freedom\u201d tour in Long Beach on Friday, January 9, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat impressive scale and precision on the projects being engineered here, the sort of groundbreaking initiatives that make up the front lines of American industry,\u201d Hegseth told Rocket Lab employees at the beginning of his address. \u201cWhat I know and what you know is that the greatness of American manufacturing is not simply wished into existence, nor does it appear out of thin air. What exists between these walls here on Earth and in the depths of outer space, they are forged \u2013 forged by the labor, the expertise and the sheer willpower of each one of you standing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is the purpose of the \u201cArsenal of Freedom\u201d tour, he added, to be able to thank people for their work to make the U.S. military and the Department of Defense\u2019s job possible.<\/p>\n

Hegseth said he was also at the company on behalf of President Donald Trump, who is equally proud and \u201cdoes everything in his power to support you.\u201d The secretary also said that the president operates on three core principles: to put America first, that the real path to peace is through strength, and the reawakening of the industrial spirit and national confidence.<\/p>\n

The secretary\u2019s mission with the tour is to help ignite that revival of industrial spirit, he said. That includes being the \u201cmost lethal fighting force on the planet,\u201d as well as rebuilding the military and reestablishing deterrence, he said. Hegseth also mentioned the president\u2019s call for $1.5 trillion into the U.S. military budget<\/a> in 2027.<\/p>\n

Hegseth ended his address with a promise and challenge to each industry leader in the country:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe days of rewarding the comfortable old guard for failure are finished,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will provide larger, longer and more predictable contracts to companies like this one, companies that can actually deliver at pace and at scale. We will reward leaders who choose to invest in their workers, who expand their capacity and who share our sense of urgency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will reward those who choose to deploy their resources toward bolstering production, not stock buyback programs or dividends,\u201d he added. \u201cThe mission is quite simple. If you deliver for America, the government is going to have your back.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Hegseth made his way off the stage, Rocket Lab employees started chanting \u201cUSA\u201d \u2014 and then got back to work a few minutes later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Work on the production floor at Rocket Lab\u2019s Engine Development Complex in Long Beach halted on Friday afternoon,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[141,7,131,133,132,137,100],"class_list":["post-127458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-aerospace","tag-california","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127458","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=127458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}