Three-year agreement includes engine delivery, licensed IP, and engineering support for AST SpaceMobile’s new heavy-lift rocket, injecting additional funds for Firefly to accelerate its own launch vehicle production 

*Firefly CEO Jason Kim and AST SpaceMobile Chairman and CEO Abel Avellan in front of Firefly’s Miranda engine at its Rocket Ranch in Briggs, Texas; Credit: Firefly Aerospace

CEDAR PARK, Texas, Nov. 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Firefly Aerospace (Nasdaq: FLY), a market leading space and defense technology company, today announced an agreement with AST SpaceMobile (Nasdaq: ASTS) for more than $1.3 billion to deliver 36 rocket engines, provide a license to the engine’s intellectual property, and offer engineering support over a three-year period for AST SpaceMobile’s new heavy-lift rocket. The agreement provides Firefly with additional funds to accelerate its existing launch vehicle production and broader technology roadmap.

Under the agreement, Firefly will deliver 27 of its Miranda engines and nine of its vacuum-variant Vira engines for AST SpaceMobile’s first three rockets, and provide the license for AST SpaceMobile to manufacture the engines.

“This is a bold transformational deal for Firefly, for AST SpaceMobile, and for the space industry," said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. "When a company sets out to build its own rocket, the engine is the hardest, highest-stakes decision they make, and AST SpaceMobile chose to partner with Firefly for its most powerful rocket engines. It's a true win-win for both companies: AST SpaceMobile gets control of its own launch schedule, and Firefly gets added funds to rapidly expand our rocket production and reinforce the supply of launch vehicles to address record demand from the industry.”

Firefly’s Miranda engine has performed over 175 hot fire tests for more than 4,200 seconds, including a flight-like test at 110% performance of the 230,000 lbf thrust engine that successfully performed 20 seconds beyond the nominal flight duration of 206 seconds. Both Miranda and Vira utilize flight-proven technology scaled from the company's Reaver and Lightning rocket engines, which were designed, built, and tested in-house with Firefly's patented tap-off cycle technology and vertically integrated approach.

Both headquartered in Texas, Firefly and AST SpaceMobile have complementary business portfolios and missions, and the agreement is non-competitive by design. Firefly retains full ownership of its engine intellectual property and will continue to serve the broader government and commercial launch market.

“Firefly is one of a few companies in the United States with a proven liquid engine of this scale, making it a scarcity in the industry,” said Abel Avellan, Founder, Chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile. “We’re proud to partner with Firefly as a company that has demonstrated repeated launch success to orbit and completed the first and only successful commercial Moon landing.”

Under the terms of the agreements, AST SpaceMobile will pay Firefly more than $1.3 billion, consisting of cash and shares of AST Class A Common Stock with the latter subject to various lock-up periods.

The influx of funds allows Firefly to quickly expand hiring, procure long-lead materials, source optimal equipment, and fortify infrastructure, including multiple new test bays in Briggs, Texas, to increase its own launch vehicle production and testing. The added engineering capacity further allows Firefly to accelerate key milestones across its core programs and broader technology roadmap.

“The agreement supercharges Firefly’s production system — more test bays at our Rocket Ranch, long-lead materials bought ahead, and a bigger team of engineers and technicians,” said Kim. “This allows us to build and test faster across our launch portfolio, with safety, quality, and reliability built in.”

Investor Presentation and Webcast on November 10
For additional information, Firefly will discuss this agreement during our upcoming Third Quarter 2026 Earnings call scheduled for 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 10, 2026.

*Miranda engine firing at full power at Firefly’s Rocket Ranch in Briggs, Texas; Credit: Firefly Aerospace

About Firefly Aerospace
Firefly Aerospace is a space and defense technology company on a mission to reliably and repeatedly launch, land, and operate space systems from Earth to the Moon and beyond. As the partner of choice for responsive space missions, Firefly is the first commercial company to launch a satellite to orbit with approximately 24-hour notice and the first to achieve a successful landing on the Moon. Established in 2017, Firefly’s engineering, manufacturing, and test facilities are co-located in central Texas to enable rapid innovation and vertical integration for the company’s small- to medium-lift launch vehicles, lunar landers, and orbital vehicles. For more information, visit www.fireflyspace.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements (including within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended) concerning Firefly. Statements included in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, strategies, objectives, prospects, assumptions or future events or performance, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “advance,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “objective,” “ongoing,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “should,” "target," “will,” “would,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. In particular, our statements about our expectation with respect to the rocket engine deal with AST and the collaboration thereunder are forward-looking statements. Various risks that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed by the forward-looking statements included in this press release include, but are not limited to the factors, risks and uncertainties included in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated, or if no date is stated, as of the date of this press release. Actual results may vary from the estimates provided. We undertake no intent or obligation to publicly update or revise any of the estimates and other forward-looking statements made in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Media Contact
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Investor Contact
investors@fireflyspace.com

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