Northrop Grumman ( NYSE: NOC ) said Monday it will partner with startup Firefly Aerospace to build a new version of its workhorse Antares rocket without Russian-made engines that were cut off from the U.S. after the invasion of Ukraine.
Northrop ( NOC ) said the new version of Antares, which NASA uses to ferry cargo to the International Space Station, will use seven Miranda engines under development by Firefly, and the two companies also will develop an entirely new launch vehicle.
Northrop ( NOC ) also said it signed a launch deal with Elon Musk's SpaceX ( SPACE ) to send three cargo missions to the Space Station while it builds the upgraded version of the Antares rocket.
The company did not say when it expects to launch the new Antares rocket; in the meantime, the three Falcon 9 missions will launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center in late 2023 and 2024.
Northrop Grumman ( NOC ) is a Buy on "solid execution and [the coming] space boom," Dhierin Bechai writes in a bullish analysis posted on Seeking Alpha .
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Northrop to team with Firefly to replace Antares' Russian engines