Two space companies have signalled the possibility of a defence force future for a remote base near the NT town of Nhulunbuy.

Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) has signed an agreement with United States rocket company Phantom Space Corporation to collaborate on missions at the Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) in the NT.

Phantom, which has confirmed it has had links to the US Department of Defense, has voiced its hopes to mass-produce rockets and fire orbital rockets from the north-east Arnhem Land site by 2025.

Mark D Lester, Phantom's chief operating officer, said that "since the US and Australia remain close allies, it is possible we will conduct defence missions" at the Arnhem Space Centre in the future.