New contract qualifies Firefly to bid on rapid, end-to-end national security demonstrations for SDA
Cedar Park, Texas, October 23, 2024 – Firefly Aerospace, an end-to-end space transportation company, today announced it was selected as a vendor for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Development Agency (SDA) Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated LEO (HALO) program. Firefly is now eligible to support rapid, end-to-end demonstration missions for SDA’s military satellites utilizing Firefly’s Elytra orbital vehicles.
“Firefly is honored to support the Space Development Agency’s growing military satellite constellation,” said Jason Kim, CEO at Firefly Aerospace. “We’re seeing an increasing demand for advanced in-space capabilities, including both prototype and feasibility demonstrations that support critical joint warfighter terrestrial missions with rapid and affordable commercial services. Firefly is ready to meet that demand with our robust space vehicles that utilize common components across our product lines to provide technical and schedule confidence for a diverse set of customers.”
SDA’s HALO program was established to enable a fast and flexible contracting mechanism to award Tranche 2 Demonstration and Experimentation System (T2DES) missions and other demonstrations that support SDA’s military satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit. The missions include launch, on-orbit transport, and tracking services delivered within 18 months of each award to advance SDA’s national security objectives.
“SDA is proud to welcome 19 vendors into the first-ever HALO pool,” said SDA Director Derek Tournear. “This creative award solution enables SDA to quickly compete, build, and fly demonstration missions to burn down risk for the future of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. We also hope, through the HALO pool, to build a broader base of vendors that can compete for work on operational layers of future tranches.”
Now eligible to support SDA HALO missions, Firefly’s Elytra orbital vehicle can be launched aboard the company’s small-lift Alpha rocket, new Medium Launch Vehicle, or as part of a rideshare with a third-party launch vehicle. Firefly’s line of Elytra vehicles offers responsive on-orbit services and dynamic space operations, including last-mile satellite delivery, advanced payload hosting, edge computing, optical communications terminals, and de-orbiting services to meet customers’ urgent mission needs.
Firefly’s first Elytra mission is scheduled to launch aboard Alpha in the coming months, further validating the company’s capabilities to rapidly launch, maneuver, and deploy satellites at a time and place of customers’ choosing.
About Firefly Aerospace
Firefly Aerospace is an end-to-end space transportation company with launch, lunar, and on-orbit services. Headquartered in central Texas, Firefly is a portfolio company of AE Industrial Partners (“AEI”) focused on delivering responsive, reliable, and affordable space access for government and commercial customers. Firefly’s small- to medium-lift launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles provide the space industry with a single source for missions from low Earth orbit to the surface of the Moon and beyond. For more information, visit www.fireflyspace.com.
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