Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket on the pad before the April 29 mission, which suffered an anomaly. Photo: Trevor Mahlamann / Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace on Sunday afternoon said it has agreed to acquire SciTec, Inc., a small company with expertise in data processing and data analytics that support the intelligence community and U.S. Space Force in a deal to diversify the company.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and expected to close this year. Deal terms consist of $300 million in cash and $555 million in Firefly stock.

The pending deal would provide Texas-based Firefly with a new suite of software-based solutions around target detection and characterization, missile warning and tracking, remote sensing simulation and analysis, automated data fusion, autonomous mission management, and countermeasure test equipment and testing.

SciTec’s customers include the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, U.S. Space Systems Command, the Space Development Agency, and the Missile Defense Agency, among others. The company had about $164 million in sales over the 12 months that ended on June 30, and achieved positive operating income and cash flow, Firefly said.

Firefly’s core capabilities are in launch vehicles, spacecraft, and lunar lander. Alpha is the company’s primary launch vehicle and is slated in 2026 to launch a Tactically Responsive Space mission for the Space Force, months later than planned due a failure earlier this year to place an experimental payload into orbit. An Alpha launch vehicle exploded on Sept. 29 during a ground test.

The Trump administration’s $175 billion Golden Dome homeland missile defense vision provides at least some of the rationale for the acquisition.

“The acquisition of SciTec enhances our ability to support a growing number of defense missions and provides us with a significant operational advantage,” Jason Kim, Firefly’s CEO, said in a statement. “SciTec’s mission-proven software and big data processing capabilities provide warfighters with rapid, accurate information to enable informed decisions that protect our homeland from emerging threats. These capabilities significantly enhance our ability to deliver integrated, software-defined solutions for critical national security imperatives, particularly Golden Dome.”

In September, the U.S. Space Force Space Operations Command accepted a ground-processing capability called the Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution, or FORGE, that supports the service’s legacy and new missile warning and tracking satellites. Earlier this year, the service’s Space Systems Command awarded the company a $259 million contract to deliver FORGE.

SciTech has about 475 employees, 90 percent of whom have security clearances. The company has operations in Boulder, Colorado; Dayton, Ohio; El Segundo, California; and Huntsville, Alabama.

Once the acquisition closes, SciTec will operate as a subsidiary of Firefly and continue to be led by Jim Lisowski, who will report to Kim.

Firefly recently went public. The company currently expects sales in 2025 between $133 million and $145 million.

This story was first published by Defense Daily