The Space Economy's $71 Billion Bottleneck Is Creating a New Class of Winners

Issued on behalf of Starfighters Space, Inc.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., April 29, 2026 /CNW/ -- Equity-Insider.com News Commentary -- The U.S. Space Force is now working with a proposed $71 billion budget, including $40 billion dedicated to research and development of new space infrastructure^[1]. That is not a typo. And the money is arriving faster than the facilities, workforce, and materials pipeline can absorb it. On the materials side, demand for aerospace and defense thermoplastic composites jumped 32% year over year to $731 million in 2026^[2], a growth rate that points to a widening gap between what the defense industrial base needs and what the supply chain can actually deliver. That structural mismatch is funneling institutional capital toward the companies that sit closest to the bottleneck: Starfighters Space (NYSE-A: FJET), Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB), Karman (NYSE: KRMN), BlackSky Technology (NYSE: BKSY), and Hexcel (NYSE: HXL).