AST SpaceMobile Will Build Its Own Rocket, and Firefly Gets a $1.3 Billion Engine Deal

AST SpaceMobile said Friday it will build its own reusable rocket, Blacklift, powered by Firefly Aerospace engines under agreements worth more than $1.3 billion.

Firefly will deliver 27 Miranda engines and nine vacuum-variant Vira engines for AST's first three rockets.

AST will also acquire a perpetual license to manufacture both engines at a new facility in the United States.

"This is a bold transformational deal for Firefly, for AST SpaceMobile, and for the space industry," Firefly Chief Executive Jason Kim said.

How the $1.3 billion breaks down

Under the license agreement, AST will pay about $800 million upfront: $400 million in cash plus 10 million to 14 million Class A shares.

The share count will be set by a forward VWAP (volume-weighted average price) calculation, and the shares carry various lock-up periods.

A separate supply and services agreement adds $250 million for the engines for the first three rockets.

It adds another $250 million over three years for engineering support services.

Firefly retains full ownership of the engine intellectual property and will keep serving the broader government and commercial launch market.

Firefly says the money lets it expand hiring, buy long-lead materials and add multiple new test bays in Briggs, Texas.

A rocket of its own

Blacklift is a 20-ton rocket AST will custom-build for its BlueBird satellites, which beam cellular broadband directly to standard smartphones.

It is designed for reusability and to carry up to five BlueBird satellites per launch into low Earth orbit.

AST targets a first launch in late 2028, a timeline Reuters called ambitious.

The company says Blacklift completes its end-to-end vertical integration and gives it regular, unconstrained access to orbit.

"The Blacklift rocket is the springboard to significantly expand our total addressable market," AST Chairman and Chief Executive Abel Avellan said.

AST will keep using external launch providers meanwhile, with agreements covering more than 100 BlueBird satellites to be deployed in 2027 and 2028.

Its BlueBird satellites are now in production through BlueBird 51 at its Midland, Texas facilities.

A test record, not yet a flight record

Firefly says Miranda has performed over 175 hot fire tests totaling more than 4,200 seconds.

That is the equivalent of about 20 full first-stage flights, according to AST's release.

One flight-like test ran at 110% performance of the 230,000-pound-thrust engine, 20 seconds beyond its 206-second nominal flight duration.

Both engines use technology scaled from Firefly's flight-proven Reaver and Lightning engines, the company says.

Neither release claims a flight for Miranda itself, and AST is buying that ground-test record two years before Blacklift's targeted debut.

Shares priced the deal immediately

Firefly shares traded at $20.56 at about 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday, up 35.49% from Thursday's $15.18 close, according to Finnhub.

AST shares traded at $32.50 at the same reading, up 7.60% from Thursday's $30.20 close.

The market was still open at that reading, so no closing reaction is printed here.

What remains unknown

What Blacklift will cost per launch, and whether the late-2028 debut holds, are both unstated in the announcements.

Where AST will build its new U.S. engine facility, and when the license shares will be issued, are also undisclosed.

Whether Miranda's ground-test record converts into a reliable flight engine is the central technical question.

What to watch: Firefly's third-quarter call on November 10, where it says it will discuss the agreement, and AST's Blacklift unveiling in New York on November 12.