Firefly Aerospace Q3 Results Raise Outlook

Firefly Aerospace’s third-quarter 2026 results, issued Nov. 10, showed sharply higher revenue and a record backlog, prompting the company to raise its full-year revenue outlook after securing a major engine-supply agreement and vendor status under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services 2 (CLPS 2) program.

Quarter Results, Backlog, and Guidance

Firefly Aerospace reported third-quarter revenue of $110.7 million for the period ended Sept. 30, 2026, a 259% increase from the prior year. The company’s backlog reached a record $1.7 billion as of Sept. 30. It raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $440 million–$450 million. The company completed an expansion and began operating a spacecraft cleanroom funded by a non-dilutive Texas Space Commission grant, designed to assemble and integrate up to 12 lunar landers and orbital vehicles simultaneously.

The quarter produced a net loss of $94.2 million, down from $140.4 million a year earlier. Reported loss per share was $0.56. Analyst estimates ahead of the report had projected revenue of $103.8 million and a loss of $0.51 per share.

The company said the cleanroom expansion supports its growing production capacity at its Briggs, Texas, launch-vehicle site.

AST SpaceMobile Engine Deal and NASA Vendor Selection

On Nov. 6, Firefly announced a more-than-$1.3 billion, three-year engine agreement with AST SpaceMobile to supply 36 engines for AST’s first three heavy-lift rockets: 27 Miranda engines and nine vacuum-variant Vira engines. The deal includes roughly $800 million upfront for engine intellectual property, consisting of $400 million in cash and 10 million to 14 million AST shares, plus about $500 million for the initial three engines and engineering support. The agreement licenses AST to manufacture the engines in the future.

AST’s planned vehicle, called Blacklift, is a 20-ton heavy-lift rocket targeting a late-2028 debut. Firefly said the AST funding will support hiring, long-lead materials, equipment, and additional test bays at Briggs.

On Nov. 7, Firefly was selected as a vendor under NASA’s CLPS 2 indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. The $10 billion contract vehicle spans 10 years and allows Firefly to compete for lunar-delivery task orders but does not guarantee any specific award.

Together, the engine deal, record backlog, and NASA vendor status underpin Firefly’s raised revenue guidance and provide funding and intellectual-property pathways to scale production at Briggs.

“With five Moon missions running in parallel, Alpha Block II moving toward launch, SciTec executing on critical national security programs, and our strategic deal with AST SpaceMobile, we are converting our pipeline and backlog into results,” the company said in its Nov. 10 release.