Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (RKLB)
Launch and space systems maker, one pattern. Read November 9, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed February 26, 2026. Ranked 73 of the 275 Industrials companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
33%
projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index
End of 2028
49%
Employees, annual report
2,600
Leading staffing pattern
Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- Now33%
- End of 202746%
- End of 202849%
- End of 203050%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 46%
- Becomes checking a model's work 49%
- Handed over with lighter checks 4%
The filing states over 2,600 full-time permanent employees worldwide at December 31, 2025 and describes rocket launch and spacecraft businesses with no count by segment, so the whole workforce is read at aerospace products by description.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 33% now, 46% at the end of 2027, 49% at the end of 2028, 50% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 50% desk work, 13% people work and 38% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 46% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 49% becomes checking a model's work and 4% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
2,600 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). Not stated; the filing names operations in the United States, Canada and New Zealand without counts by country.
The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, we had over 2,600 full-time permanent employees worldwide.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing | 100% | The filing describes a launch vehicle and spacecraft company (Space Systems 71% and Launch Services 29% of revenue) with no count by function, so the whole workforce is read at aerospace product and parts manufacturing, where space vehicles sit, by description (c). |
What the filing says about the workforce: Over 2,600 full-time permanent employees worldwide at December 31, 2025, up from about 1,400 in December 2022; no collective bargaining agreements; an internship program and university partnerships; hiring events for people let go by other local aerospace employers.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- Boeing (BA, 182,000 employees)32% now, 47% by 2028
- RTX (RTX, 180,000 employees)32% now, 48% by 2028
- Lockheed Martin (LMT, 123,000 employees)35% now, 51% by 2028
- Honeywell International Inc. (HON, 101,000 employees)34% now, 49% by 2028
- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC, 95,000 employees)34% now, 50% by 2028
- GE Aerospace (GE, 57,000 employees)33% now, 49% by 2028
- Textron Inc. (TXT, 34,000 employees)31% now, 44% by 2028
- Howmet Aerospace Inc. (HWM, 25,430 employees)31% now, 43% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
0 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names artificial intelligence in no sentence.
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20230median 1
- Fiscal 20240median 4
- Fiscal 20250median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 2,600 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 2,100 | 2025-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 1,650 | 2024-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 1,400 | 2023-03-07 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 758 | 2022-03-24 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 758 | 2021-03-31 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The count is stated as over 2,600 full-time permanent employees, recorded at 2,600.
- The U.S. share is not stated.
- No count by segment; one pattern by description (c).
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001819994-26-000013, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Rocket Lab USA, Inc., $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Rocket Lab USA, Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 33% now and 49% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Rocket Lab USA, Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Rocket Lab USA, Inc. employ?
- 2,600 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up Rocket Lab USA, Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 1 industry staffing pattern, the largest Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing; by those patterns the work is about 50% desk work, 13% people work and 38% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Rocket Lab USA, Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 0 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on November 9, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.