Stoke Space Closes $1B Series E, Isar Lines Up Five More Spectrum Flights by Early 2028, and L3Harris Books a $4.7B PAC-3 Propulsion Award

Stoke Space closed an initial $1 billion tranche of a Series E co-led by Point72 Ventures and Spark Capital, taking total funding to $2.3 billion before Nova has flown. CEO Andy Lapsa said the round is "really to scale": production, flight frequency, infrastructure and a larger second-generation vehicle, Nova Block 2, targeted for a 2029 first flight. Nova Pathfinder's debut has slipped to early 2027, and a successful flight is the gate Stoke needs to compete for task orders in the Space Force's National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 pool, whose ceiling rose to $17 billion.

Isar Aerospace's Spectrum lifted off from Andøya at 4:12 p.m. ET Saturday and deployed all payloads, roughly 18 months after its first attempt failed 30 seconds after liftoff. CEO Daniel Metzler asked to be judged on the production ramp: five rockets are already in build near Munich, at least five more flights are targeted by early 2028, and the stated goal is a 40-vehicle-per-year pace. Isar is also pursuing a second pad at Spaceport Nova Scotia under a 10-year, C$155 million (US$112.5 million) deal with Maritime Launch Services, targeting a 2028 first flight from Canada.

L3Harris disclosed a $4.7 billion, seven-year undefinitized award from Lockheed Martin to produce the two-pulse solid rocket motor, lethality enhancer, and attitude control motors for the PAC-3 MSE interceptor, its largest PAC-3 propulsion contract to date. Two new Camden, Arkansas facilities are due online in 2027, part of more than 1 million square feet of propulsion manufacturing L3Harris is adding across Alabama, Virginia and Arkansas. Sweden signed a SEK 7 billion ($732 million) HIMARS deal with Lockheed Martin for just over ten launchers and ammunition, with first deliveries in 2027 and a path to the Precision Strike Missile.