‘Victus Haze’ Responsive Space Mission Pushed to 2026 by Rocket Anomaly

The Space Force has delayed its next Tactically Responsive Space mission, Victus Haze, until 2026, as one of its launch providers continues to recover from a rocket anomaly that occurred earlier this year.  

The Space Force had planned to fly the Victus Haze mission earlier this year, part of a larger effort to refine its ability to ready spacecraft and rockets for launch on rapid timelines. The service first demonstrated this concept in 2023 when it worked with spacecraft and launch firms to deliver a satellite in months and launch it with just over a day’s notice.  

In 2024, USSF and the Defense Innovation Unit—the Pentagon’s commercial technology hub—selected Firefly Aerospace and Rocket Lab to provide launch services for Victus Haze. Rocket Lab is to fly one of its own payloads from one of its pads in Virginia or New Zealand, and Firefly will integrate and launch a payload built by True Anomaly, a Denver, Colo.-based space startup.  

Then in April, Firefly’s Alpha rocket—which flew the first TacRS demo and is on deck to launch Victus Haze—had a mishap, losing the rocket and its payload. In late September, Alpha experienced a separate anomaly during a preflight ground test and lost its first stage as a result.  

The company has since been cleared by the Federal Aviation Administration to launch, but Space Systems Command Director Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant told reporters Dec. 10 his team is working closely with Firefly to monitor its “anomaly resolution activities” and has pushed Victus Haze to 2026.  

“We want it to be successful, we want it to have learning,” Garrant said during a media briefing at the Spacepower Conference in Orlando, Fla. “We’re going to continue working closely with the launch provider and industry to make sure that they’re successful.” 

The Space Force describes Tactically Responsive Space as the ability to respond to threats against U.S. space systems. Potential TacRS missions could include launching spacecraft on short notice, buying data from a partner during a crisis or conflict, or maneuvering prepositioned systems to augment a degraded satellite.  

For the first TacRS mission, Victus Nox, contractors received notification from the service that they were entering a “hot standby stage,” during which they awaited a launch alert. When the alert came, they transported the satellite, built by Millennium Space Systems, and completed prelaunch activities in just 58 hours. Once they received final orders, Firefly launched the satellite 27 hours later.  

Victus Haze is meant to build on the success of that first mission. It’s also more complex, featuring two rockets and two payloads that will perform maneuver demonstrations and collect space domain awareness data once in orbit. Garrant intentionally didn’t provide more specificity on the expected Victus Haze launch date since the mission is designed for a rapid call-up period.

The service has two more TacRS missions planned after Victus Haze: Victus Sol and Victus Surgo. Both missions are expected to launch in 2026, with Surgo flying later in the year. An SSC spokesperson said the Victus Haze delay shouldn’t impact that timeline since the missions are independent. Firefly is on contract to fly the Victus Sol mission; the service hasn’t announced contractors for Victus Surgo. A fifth mission, Victus Salo, is also planned for late fiscal year 2026, but the service did not say whether its schedule has changed. 

The Space Force plans to transition TacRS from a demonstration effort to operations next year. The service’s fiscal year 2026 budget includes $168 million for TacRS—$33 million in base funding, plus $135 million in reconciliation funds—a significant increase from the $30 million to $40 million Congress has appropriated over the last few years. Beyond planning for a busy run of missions, USSF plans to use that money to fund ground infrastructure, launch range improvements, and software that could support future TacRS missions.