“We’re excited to bid this time round for NSSL Lane 1, and we think Neutron is a really good vehicle for it,” Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO Peter Beck told SpaceNews.

The U.S. Space Force last week released a request for proposals from launch companies seeking to challenge SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin in the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program.

The NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 program is structured as an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, enabling the Space Force to on-ramp providers on a yearly basis, and award individual task orders as needed.

The Space Force requires the next round of Lane 1 bidders to be ready for a first launch by December 2025, a timeline Beck says Neutron can meet.