Firefly leans into its defense ambitions with $855M SciTec acquisition

In Brief Firefly Aerospace on Sunday said it had agreed to buy defense analytics firm SciTec for about $855 million in cash and stock, paving the path to its goal of becoming a significant player in the national security market. Firefly will pay around $300 million in cash and $555 million in new shares, and the deal is expected to close by the end of 2025. Princeton-based SciTec sells missile-warning and tracking systems, space domain awareness tools, and analytics to defense and intelligence customers. Earlier this year, Space Force awarded the company a $259 million contract to develop a ground system for missile-detection satellites. The company reported annual revenue of $164 million as of the end of June. The acquisition comes nearly two months after Firefly’s IPO, which valued it at nearly $10 billion. The deal is part of the company’s efforts to reposition itself as a vertically integrated defense contractor from being a launch-and-spacecraft manufacturer. Bringing SciTec in-house will no doubt prove helpful, especially as the Pentagon seeks more commercial partners for missile tracking and early-warning systems, including for its “Golden Dome” missile-defense program. Once the deal closes, SciTec will operate as a subsidiary of Firefly, and will be led by its current CEO, Jim Lisowski.