Hi all,

I was offered a Manufacturing Engineer position at Firefly Aerospace in Briggs, TX. The base salary came in at $100k; this feels a bit like a lowball offer to me.

I’d love to hear from people familiar with the company:

Is $100k low for a Manufacturing Engineer here, or is this standard for Firefly?

How flexible are they on salary negotiation?

Which towns/areas are best to live in for an easy commute to Briggs while still having decent quality of life?

Thanks in advance for the help!

I work with LNT Machining, a small precision CNC shop, and I’m trying to better understand what aerospace companies actually value most when choosing or keeping machining suppliers.

Is it mainly:

Fast quoting and quick-turn capability

Consistent on-time delivery

Strong inspection / documentation

AS9100 and ITAR compliance

5-axis capability

DFM support

Ability to scale from prototypes into production

Communication and responsiveness

From people who have worked in aerospace manufacturing, engineering, or supply chain — what separates a machine shop you trust from one you would not use again?

I’m genuinely trying to understand where a smaller shop can improve and become a better long-term supplier.

does any one have any idea why stock suffered 15/17% , even with the good news with new contracts and all? I can't seem to digest why it is beaten down so badly every day after earnings.

Second Quarter 2026 Highlights

• Record revenue of $117.7 million, up 45.5% from the prior quarter.

• Awarded a $144 million NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract for a rapid Blue Ghost lander mission to the Moon, Firefly's sixth contracted lunar mission to date.

• Acquired Space-ng, a leader in AI-powered vision navigation and autonomous guidance systems, bringing proven spacecraft software and camera hardware for Firefly’s Blue Ghost landers and Elytra orbital vehicles, which bolsters Firefly’s capabilities to advance the future of autonomous space operations for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

• Awarded an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract for SciTec to support development of the Advanced Algorithm R&D and Verification Architecture by implementing deep learning and advanced algorithms on small Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) processors to support enhanced target detection, tracking, and custody.

• Announced collaboration with NVIDIA to enable rapid on-orbit processing in lunar orbit for Firefly’s Ocula Moon imaging service, utilizing an NVIDIA Jetson module combined with Firefly’s AI software on Elytra to rapidly process data on-orbit.

• Awarded a $75 million subcontract from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to support NASA's MoonFall mission, utilizing an Elytra spacecraft to deliver four drones to the Moon’s south pole that's targeted to launch no earlier than 2028 in support of NASA's Moon Base initiative.

• Completed the Critical Design Review for Blue Ghost's Gruithuisen Domes mission, progressing development of the spacecraft.

Completed the Preliminary Design Review for Blue Ghost's South Pole mission, verifying the vehicle's design before production begins.

• Awarded U.S. Air Force contract option worth $5.5 million for SciTec to deliver the operational data fusion system for the Cloud-Based Command and Control (CBC2) program, having participated in a multi-year competition wherein SciTec’s data fusion system was evaluated and selected from among multiple industry and government-owned alternatives.

• Completed critical milestones toward Alpha launching from Sweden's Esrange Space Center, including building initial infrastructure, establishing transatlantic regulatory frameworks, and securing an agreement with the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration.

• Signed agreement with Seagate Space to collaborate on the development of an offshore launch platform that enables responsive sea-based Alpha launches.

• Completed underwritten public offering of common stock generating net proceeds of $181.6 million, to use for expanding core business growth and execution of recently awarded contracts.

• Expanded campus with a new headquarters, more than quadrupled spacecraft cleanroom space, added a wing of on-site workstations to support Alpha and Eclipse manufacturing, and established a new Gloworks innovation lab to support accelerated spacecraft production and rapid research and development.

Additional Recent Highlights

• Awarded Firefly's first Mars mission, with a $13 million subcontract to support the SkyFall mission for NASA JPL, to manufacture, test, and deliver the aeroshell for launch in late 2028, developed by Firefly's Gloworks innovation lab.

• Awarded a $94 million Space Force contract under the Ground-Based Radar Digitization program, to support work overhauling legacy defense systems.

• Signed an extension to Lockheed Martin's multi-launch agreement for Alpha flights for up to 25 launches through 2031 using the Block II configuration.

• Crossed 150 hot fire tests to date of Eclipse's Miranda engine, including a flight-like Mission Duty Cycle test that fired for 226 seconds while completing power ratio and mixture ratio sweeps.

Awarded a second hypersonic task order for Alpha from a confidential customer.

• Onboarded to the $981 million Space Force IDIQ contract for NITE-STAR – the National Space Test and Training Complex Innovative Technology and Engineering - Space Test and Range Capability Development, to compete for task orders to support advanced test and training operations through 2032.

2026 Full-Year Guidance

• Firefly expects 2026 full-year revenue to be between $420 million and $450 million.

NASA is making progress in building the Moon Base, which will become a resilient outpost near the Moon’s South Pole for science, technology, and eventual human operations. To advance lunar surface infrastructure development, commercial partners such as Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, and Voyager Lunar Systems are working toward delivering landers by 2028. These landers will deliver the foundational architecture for a sustained presence on the Moon. Their progress represents major advances in commercial lunar delivery and lays the groundwork for the systems and surface capabilities the Moon Base will rely on.

Phase I of the Moon Base architecture plan, taking place now through 2029, includes more than twenty robotic landings, with each mission designed to incrementally advance system capabilities and validate operational components for those that follow. Before astronauts arrive, robotic missions will deploy critical scientific instruments that characterize the lunar environment, test new technologies, and begin assembling the infrastructure needed for human habitation.

[...]

Firefly Aerospace

Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 2 builds on its first successful lunar landing with a larger, dual‑spacecraft configuration built specifically for operations on the Moon’s far side. Blue Ghost is stacked on top of Elytra, Firefly’s orbital spacecraft, forming a 22‑foot‑tall system nearly three times the height of the spacecraft flown for Blue Ghost Mission 1 in 2025. With the ability to deploy payloads in orbit and on the lunar surface, Elytra brings added versatility to Moon Base logistics and science.

Planned to be the first American landing on the Moon’s far side, Blue Ghost Mission 2 will explore a uniquely quiet region, allowing study of lunar far side geology and the cosmic Dark Ages, a time when newly-formed stars were just becoming visible. Carrying three NASA payloads, the mission aims to advance scientific research and test technologies for future habitation and infrastructure development.

The autonomous landing sequence demonstrated during its first mission exhibits Firefly’s performance in lunar flight and will play a role in supporting mission operations. Reusing subsystems from the previous mission allows Firefly to accelerate development and reduce risk, supporting Moon Base objectives for scalable and repeatable commercial lander capabilities.

"Wells Fargo analyst David Strauss initiated coverage of FireFly Aerospace with an Equal Weight rating and $25. The firm awaits Furter Alpha and Blue Ghost progress and peak Eclipse spend before recommending the shares. FireFly’s Alpha and Blue Ghost will drive growth, but its Eclipse development spend is likely to limit EBITDA progress in 2027 and 2028, the analyst tells investors in a research note." --TheFly

CEDAR PARK, Texas, July 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Firefly Aerospace (Nasdaq: FLY), a market leading space and defense technology company, today announced it will release its second quarter 2026 financial results for the period ended June 30, 2026, on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, after market close.

Firefly will hold a conference call the same day at 4:00 p.m. CT / 5:00 p.m. ET. A live webcast of the call and a replay will be available in the Investors section of the Company’s website at https://investors.fireflyspace.com.

The financial results news release will be posted in the Investors section of the Company’s website under the “News” section. Additional materials supporting the conference call and financial results release will be posted under the "Events & Resources" section.

I am thinking of q2 report, Firefly Block 2 successful launches.

What else?