Firefly Aerospace agreed to a three-year deal worth more than $1.3 billion with AST SpaceMobile to supply 36 engines for the satellite company’s first three Blacklift heavy-lift rockets, provide engineering support and license propulsion technology. Firefly will deliver 27 Miranda engines and nine Vira vacuum engines, while allowing AST SpaceMobile to manufacture the engines under license. AST is targeting a late-2028 debut for Blacklift, which is designed for reusability and can carry up to five BlueBird satellites per launch. The rocket is intended to help AST deploy its global cellular broadband constellation and reduce reliance on third-party launch providers such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Payment will combine cash and AST SpaceMobile Class A shares, with the stock subject to various lock-up periods. Firefly shares rose 23.03% to $18.67 after the announcement, gaining $3.49 and approaching an intraday high of $18.70. Firefly will retain ownership of its engine intellectual property and continue serving government and commercial launch customers. The proceeds will support hiring, long-lead materials, equipment and multiple new test bays at Firefly’s Briggs, Texas, facility, helping expand engine and launch-vehicle production. Miranda, rated at 230,000 pounds-force of thrust, has completed more than 175 hot-fire tests totaling over 4,200 seconds.