A year ago, in the post, The undergraduate NRO – which was about an undergraduate student using commercial Earth-observation satellites to identify a bunch of Chinese ballistic missile silos – I also made reference to some strange implications of the private satellite market, starting with our own local rocket launch outfit, RocketLabs, and their world of launching US military micro-satellites, comment courtesy of Lefty Paul Buchanan:
If the contract to deliver military payloads is solely and exclusively with the US, then Rocket Lab has painted a target on Launch Complex 1 in the event that the US becomes embroiled in a large-scale conflict with a major power.
…
The question is whether there is a legal basis to permit or prohibit foreign military satellites, especially weaponised satellites, being launched from NZ soil with NZ technologies. I am unsure if that is the case one way or another and have heard of no parliamentary or ministerial discussion of the matter.
It’s taken a long time but it seems that Paul’s less well-read members of the Far Left have finally caught up with this…
Meanwhile Aotearoa New Zealand moves insidiously closer to the US military.
Here in Christchurch protests will accompany the Rocket Lab presence at the 2022 Aerospace Summit. In case anyone hasn’t caught up with developments, Rocket Lab is now majority owned by the US military and has launched numerous rockets for direct military purposes.
That article is written by John Minto – of course – because …. of course. I guess he can smell Chinese Uranium on the winds.
No Minister 
With regards to Rocketlab carrying US loads, it’s somewhat immaterial if it’s military loads or not, because by inferrance it ‘could be’, therefore implicitly you are helping the US and ‘taking sides’.
Meanwhile, Jacinda’s pet journalist Tova is in the Ukraine apparently to tell us all about those nasty Russians, which implies we should be sticking our nose in over there.
I’m just amused at the likes of Minto finally catching up with all this- which has not exactly been hidden over the last few years – and then combining that with his constant, fanatical anti-Americanism.
I’ve searched diligently and I am unable to find any evidence RocketLab, a listed public company, is owned by the American military.
At moments like these, you DONT need Mintos.
More than grateful they did not proceed with The Spit at Birdlings Flat, and settled on Mahia, being paranoid and all.