Launching into the Future: Starfighters Space Role in the New U.S. Space Race Market

The current US space race, some may say pits NASA and private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin against China's rapidly expanding programs.

Now at stake are moon landings, orbital infrastructure, and the exploitation of loy's space resources, and China is gaining ground on timelines as well as investments.

Now one small cap company on America's side is Starfighter Space.

It deploys.

Small satellites into suborbital and low Earth orbit using air launch rockets from its fleet of supersonic jets.

Well joining me fresh off ringing the opening bell here at the New York Stock Exchange is Tim Fran, vice president of business development for Starfighter Space.

Tim, good morning.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

Well, you just came off the podium of the New York Stock Exchange and you rang the opening bell so far.

Viewers out there, tell us exactly what the company does.

Sure, so we basically do two things.

One, we do high altitude, high speed research in our jets.

And the second thing we do is we're going to be launching small payloads into subworld space, which is about 15 minutes in space, 15 minutes of microgravity, and then eventually in the not too distant future we'll be launching small payloads to orbit.

And for viewers out there who are wondering what this impact will have on industry, give us an overview of that.

So the space industry is very commercial and very well rounded, so we're at the smaller size payloads with the ones you know about SpaceX.

And Blue Origin, they're the big stuff.

We're the other end, so we're not a 747.

We're more of an Uber, so we're more of an Uber to space to get those small payloads.

And the other thing we're going to do is high cadence that we'll be able to launch pretty regularly to get those payloads the time they need.

Yes, and I think that's a helpful analogy for people out there who are watching this right now.

So what is your mission moving forward?

And now that you're here at the New York Stock Exchange, what do you actually envision moving forward?

So, one nice thing about the space program is that you have goals and milestones. objectives, but the greatest reviewer of that is the marketplace, so they hold you accountable.

So I'm looking to do what we said in our business plan getting our sub rocket and then our orbital rocket.

So it's following the business plan and what we told investors.

And as you mentioned some key names there are some IPOs that we're looking forward to in 2026.

So there has been a lot of focus on this space.

So what does this mean moving forward and what are your goals as we moved beyond 2026, not just say five.

But also a decade from now.

A decade from now, well, that's quite a foresight, but I cannot tell you how exciting it is down there now with the NASA program, returning back to the moon and then all the commercial entities whether it's SpaceX, Rocket Lab, or Blue Origin.

I think it's in 2007, no one knew what apps were. and no one knew what apps were going to do to the market.

I think if we do our mission and we have very inexpensive space flights, it will be like an app.

People will use space more and do more research and commercial development.

So if I had to say anything metaphorically, it would be like we want to be the Uber or an app for space.

And speaking of space, when we're Talking about this industry, there are many national security concerns.

So compared to other nation states, where do you think we are and where are we headed?

So for example, we do more than half of our work now is in hypersonics, which is going faster than Mach 5.

Our aircraft can go Mach 2, so we can do a lot of research up to that point and then to launch a rocket to go Mach 5.

But unfortunately the United States today is behind.

We're number 3 in 2018, we're probably number one, but we're behind China and Russia.

And so one of the great things that's happened recently is the Department of Defense, Department of War, and the President have emphasized on hypersonics and that they're getting rid of a roadblocks to research in that area.

So I'm hoping the US will be number one in hypersonics very, very shortly.

And finally, Tim, before I let you go, I do want to get your take on the importance of what's developing in the space sector, particularly here in the US.

So what do you think will end up being the winners, the leaders versus the laggards?

So I think it's going to be that there's actually a market now.

So in a market there will be winners and losers, but the market doesn't care in the long run because the winners will rise to the top. will disappear.

It's that there actually is a commercial space sector now that's the most important thing.

Before it was who had the big government contracts, and even the Pentagon is now procuring things commercially.

They're not giving a big government contract.

They're doing a task order and buying things commercially.

So it's really the difference between government funded versus commercial procurement.

So there's now a commercial space sector.

And finally, before I let you go, you just mentioned the fact that there is this commercial space sector.

So in terms of growth, what figures do you have your eyes on?

I don't want to say we're shooting for the stars, but as you know, something's going to happen in the very near future with SpaceX.

It's going to be the largest thing ever in the stock market history regardless, so that will lift the entire space sector, but it's going to be astronomical.

I think that's a good way to say it, and congratulations on ringing the opening bell this morning here at the New York Stock Exchange.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much for joining us.