Pentagon lends 450 million dollars to three space companies

The Defense Department's Office of Strategic Capital has announced three conditional loans of 150 million dollars each, to Rocket Lab, Stoke Space and LeoLabs, totalling 450 million dollars for launch and space monitoring capacity.

Why it matters: The loans put federal credit behind a wider set of launch providers as the Pentagon weighs a possible shortage of launch capacity after 2028, when SpaceX stops flying commercial payloads on Falcon 9.

Data as of Office of Strategic Capital release on the Rocket Lab loan read in full on war.gov in this run; the Stoke Space and LeoLabs loans and the 450 million dollar aggregate are from Breaking Defense reporting of November 11, 2026, read in full in this run, which links the department's own release for each loan. Developing item.

The Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital has recently announced three loans worth a total of 450 million dollars to US space firms, Breaking Defense reported on Wednesday: 150 million dollars to Rocket Lab, announced Monday, to help it increase the flight rate of its reusable Neutron rocket; 150 million dollars to Stoke Space, awarded on October 26, toward a second launch pad at Cape Canaveral for its planned Nova rocket; and 150 million dollars to LeoLabs, announced on November 4, to accelerate deployment of its Scout mobile radar and expand its radar manufacturing capacity.

Like all Office of Strategic Capital loans, the three are conditional, requiring due diligence on each company’s finances and a matching investment of company capital before they close.

Pentagon lends 450 million dollars to three space companies

Sources