Rocket Lab is expanding its launch operations to the frozen north, as the California-based company, which already operates flights from New Zealand and Virginia, has signed a $266 million deal with the US Space Force for up to 18 missile defense missions, most of them from Alaska.

According to “space” website, Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO, said in a statement today, "The scale and scope of this contract reflects the Space Force's confidence in our ability to meet urgent national security requirements quickly, efficiently, and at scale. We are proud to provide the high-frequency launch capability needed to maintain US superiority in the face of global threats."

Details of Rocket Lab’s missile propulsion missions

The contract includes 12 suborbital launch operations, with the possibility of adding six more. These missions will primarily take place from the Pacific Spaceport Complex, a stunning location on Kodiak Island in Alaska, which is known for its abundance of brown bears.

Since its opening in 1998, the spaceport has hosted nearly thirty missions, most of them suborbital flights for the US military. However, it recently supported the launch of orbital rockets specifically, namely those built by Astra and ABL Space Systems (now known as Longwall).

Rocket Lab’s newly announced missions will be carried out by HASTE, a near-circular version of the Electron rocket, the company's main launch vehicle designed for small satellites. Customers use it to test hypersonic technologies in flight environment.

These missions may also be part of the US Golden Dome missile defense initiative, although we don't know for sure; today’s statement only provides few details about the launches.