Space technology company Firefly Aerospace Inc. wants to expand into the defense sector after announcing plans Sunday to acquire a company called SciTec Inc. for $855 million.

The deal will see Firefly cough up $300 million in cash, and $555 million worth of its shares to SciTec’s owners, priced at $50 each.

Firefly said it’s buying SciTec to be able to participate more in defense industry-related space missions, such as U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” anti-missile system – a project that could cost as much as $3.6 trillion over the next 20 years, according to an estimate from the American Enterprise Institute.

Firefly already has the required spaceflight capabilities to participate in Golden Dome. Founded in 2014, the company is a developer of launch vehicles and provider of in-space services for the commercial, civil and defense markets. Based in Texas, it specializes in providing cost-effective access to space for small and medium-sized payloads.

Its main launch vehicle is known as the Alpha rocket, and it has been designed to deliver payloads of up to one metric ton into low Earth orbit. That’s a relatively small payload, but it’s enough to cater to the expanding satellite industry. Firefly provides both dedicated and rideshare launch options to customers, significantly reducing the cost of getting something into orbit.

It does have ambitions to go much bigger, though. Besides Alpha, it’s also developing a much larger rocket called Beta that will support heavier payloads and more ambitious space missions.

Some of the company’s missions include lunar exploration. For instance, it was selected by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative to transport scientific equipment and other types of cargo to the Moon’s surface through its Blue Ghost lander program. It has proven it can do this, having become the first private company to complete a lunar landing when its Blue Ghost Mission 1 spacecraft successfully put a robotic probe onto the Moon’s surface in March.

Princeton-based SciTec is quite a different kettle of fish, focused on developing missile-warning and tracking technology, space domain awareness tools and analytics systems. It caters to customers in the defense and intelligence industries, and earlier this year it was awarded a $259 million contract by the U.S. Space Force to develop a ground-based system for missile-detection satellites.

SciTec, which has almost 500 employees, reportedly had annual revenue of $164 million at the end of June.

Firefly Chief Executive Jason Kim said in a statement that SciTec’s software and big data processing capabilities are vital tools for defense, providing warfighters with the rapid and accurate intelligence they need to make informed decisions relating to military threats. “These capabilities significantly enhance our ability to deliver integrated, software-defined solutions for critical national security imperatives,” he added.

By acquiring SciTec’s technology, Firefly will be better-positioned to cater to defense customers at a time when the Pentagon is searching for commercial partners to help develop the Golden Dome. The White House has reportedly set aside an initial budget of around $175 billion for that project, and hopes to get the system operational by the end of 2029. Recently, the Missile Defense Agency extended a deadline for project proposals until Oct. 16.

The acquisition has also provided a much-needed boost to Firefly’s stock, which has lost more than half its value since the company went public in early August when it held its initial public offering. Last week, Firefly’s shares lost more than 30% in a single day’s trading after its Alpha Flight 7 rocket exploded during preflight testing, failing to even get off the ground. Fortunately, no personnel were injured or killed.

The stock gained more than 13% in early trading today as news of the acquisition was announced, although it ended the day with a gain of just over 6%. That leaves Firefly’s shares priced at $29.09 each, below its IPO price of $45, and down more than half from its first-day closing price of $60.35.

Firefly said that once the deal closes by the end of the year, SciTec will operate as a subsidiary and continue to be led by current CEO Jim Lisowski.

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