Firefly Aerospace Revenue Surges 659% as Lunar and Defense Contracts Stack Up
The rocket maker posted $117.7 million in second-quarter revenue, a record that nearly matched its entire 2025 haul.
Firefly Aerospace (FLY) reported second-quarter revenue of $117.7 million, a 659% increase from $15.5 million a year earlier and a 45.5% jump from the prior quarter, as the launch and space-services company capitalized on a wave of government and commercial contracts. The result marked a new quarterly record for the company, which went public earlier this year.
The quarter underscored the pace of Firefly's scaling. Revenue had already accelerated sharply through 2025 — full-year sales reached $159.9 million, up 163% year over year — and the first half of 2026 has already surpassed that total, with $198.6 million booked in six months. The company reiterated full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $420 million to $450 million, unchanged from the outlook it provided after the first quarter.
Gross profit margin narrowed to 20.3% in the quarter from 25.6% in the first quarter, as cost of revenue grew faster than the top line. The compression came even as gross profit rose in absolute terms to $23.9 million. Firefly remains in a pre-profit phase: the GAAP net loss widened to $92.3 million from $63.8 million a year ago, though the per-share loss narrowed to $0.57 from $5.78 because the weighted-average share count swelled to 161.8 million from 13.9 million following the initial public offering.
Operating expenses climbed across the board. Research and development spending rose 56% to $71.5 million, while selling, general and administrative costs nearly quadrupled to $47.5 million, driven by the acquisitions of SciTec and Space-ng and by broader headcount growth. Stock-based compensation surged to $17.0 million from $0.8 million a year earlier, reflecting post-IPO equity grants. Depreciation and amortization jumped to $14.3 million from $3.9 million, including $5.0 million a quarter in amortization from the SciTec deal.
Free cash flow deepened to negative $106.3 million, compared with negative $37.3 million a year ago, as operating cash burn rose to $81.6 million and capital expenditures increased to $24.7 million. The company partly offset the burn with proceeds from a secondary public offering that raised $181.6 million in net cash during the quarter. Interest expense fell to $1.8 million from $7.0 million as IPO proceeds were used to pay down debt, while interest income rose to $4.3 million on higher cash balances.
The contract pipeline expanded meaningfully. Firefly secured a $144 million NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services award — its sixth lunar mission — along with a $75 million JPL MoonFall subcontract, a $94 million Space Force ground-based radar digitization contract, a $13 million Mars mission subcontract, and onboarding to the $981 million NITE-STAR indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. The company also acquired Space-ng, which develops AI-powered vision navigation technology.
On the launch side, Firefly extended its multi-launch agreement with Lockheed Martin to up to 25 Alpha missions through 2031 using the Block II configuration. The Eclipse Miranda engine, central to the company's next-generation vehicle, crossed 150 hot-fire tests including a 226-second Mission Duty Cycle test. Adjusted EBITDA loss widened to $61.2 million from $47.9 million a year ago, reflecting the cost of scaling toward those future missions.