Northrop Grumman Invests $50 Million in Firefly Aerospace
Summary
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has invested $50 million into Firefly Aerospace to further advance production of their co-developed medium launch vehicle, now known as Eclipse. The companies continue to make progress in the development of Eclipse flight hardware with qualification testing underway and more than 60 Miranda engine hot fire tests performed to date.Firefly is incredibly grateful for Northrop Grummans investment that further solidifies our first-of-its-kind partnership to build the first stage of Antares 330 and jointly develop Eclipse, said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. Eclipse represents two powerful forces coming together to transform the launch market with decades of flight heritage, a rapid, iterative approach, and bold innovation. Following several development test campaigns, flight hardware has been manufactured for the common dome propellant tanks, engine bay and interstage.Eclipse gives customers the right balance between payload capacity and affordability, said Wendy Williams, vice president and general manager, launch and missile defense systems, Northrop Grumman. Headquartered in central Texas, Firefly is a portfolio company of AE Industrial Partners (AEI) focused on delivering rapid, reliable, and affordable space access for government and commercial customers.