Rocket Lab launches third HawkEye 360 satellite cluster this month

Rocket Lab placed three commercial signals-intelligence satellites into low Earth orbit on Thursday, completing the company’s 98th launch and its 19th flight of 2026. The Electron rocket lifted off from the firm’s New Zealand facility at 3:11 a.m. EDT, carrying a payload named “We’re Not Hawking Around.”

The three spacecraft, built by Virginia-based HawkEye 360, are designed to operate in clusters. Once commissioned, they will scan the planet for radio frequency emissions to support maritime tracking, global navigation satellite system jamming detection, and radar monitoring.

HawkEye 360 sells this data to the U.S. government and allied nations. The company states that its proprietary signal processing and AI-powered analytics convert raw spectrum data into strategic advantages for defense and communications mapping.

This launch marks the second deployment for HawkEye 360 in as many days. Three of its satellites recently flew on a SpaceX Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission. The company has now placed nearly 50 of these satellites into orbit since its first launch in 2018.

The 59-foot-tall Electron vehicle has flown 16 times this year. Rocket Lab also operated HASTE, a suborbital variant of the rocket, for three separate flights in 2026 to test technologies in hypersonic environments.