Anduril will get $19 million contract to develop strong rocket motors for U.S. Navy

WASHINGTON — Anduril Industries gained a $19 million contract from the U.S. Navy to develop a 21-inch diameter strong rocket motor for the second stage of the Commonplace Missile 6 — a surface-to-air naval weapon used to intercept plane and ballistic missiles.

Anduril, a protection contractor identified for its use of robotics and synthetic intelligence in army drones, has set its sights on changing into a significant provider of strong rocket motors to the Pentagon. The corporate final yr acquired the startup Adranos, which invented a gasoline known as Alitec — a mix of lithium and aluminum to energy strong rocket motors utilized in tactical missiles and house launch automobiles. 

Stable propellant — a stick of gasoline and oxidizer pre-mixed and molded into a particular form —  powers weapons methods starting from tactical munitions to nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles. The continued conflicts in Japanese Europe and the Center East have strained present manufacturing capability for tactical strong rocket motors, and the Pentagon worries that there usually are not sufficient home sources.

At present solely Northrop Grumman and L3Harris Applied sciences provide strong rocket motors to DoD. L3Harris is the present provider of rocket motors for the Commonplace Missile 6, made by Raytheon. 

Underneath the Navy contract, Anduril will “display a high-performance, 21-inch diameter second stage rocket motor for an SM-6 variant for potential use in fleet space air protection towards superior, fast-moving threats,” the corporate mentioned June 12 in a information launch. 

The Navy is thinking about qualifying a 3rd provider because it plans to accumulate lots of of SM-6 variants within the coming years, mentioned Neil Thurgood, senior vice chairman of Anduril. He mentioned the corporate is at present supplying sub-20-inch diameter rocket motors to a number of different DoD packages and clients.

Anduril manufactures strong rocket motors in McHenry, Mississippi. The corporate this week introduced it’s investing greater than $75 million to extend the propellant mixing and strong rocket motor annual manufacturing capability on the facility from 600 to greater than 6,000 tactical-scale strong rocket motors.

“The funding will enable Anduril to considerably develop the Mississippi Stable Rocket Motor Complicated, a 450-acre propellant mixing and strong rocket motor manufacturing facility that has been sited for thousands and thousands of kilos of explosives,” the corporate mentioned. Anduril plans to renovate 92,000 sq. ft of manufacturing facility house, including new robotics gear and manufacturing methods.

L3Harris: no extra primes wanted

The Pentagon’s push to develop its roster of prime strong rocket motor suppliers is going through some pushback. 

Christopher Kubasik, CEO of L3Harris Applied sciences, has argued that the Pentagon doesn’t want extra prime contractors for strong rocket motors and will focus investments on bolstering the sub-tier vendor base supporting the present primes.

L3Harris final summer time acquired Aerojet Rocketdyne, one of many nation’s two prime suppliers of strong rocket motors.  

Throughout a first-quarter earnings name April 26, Kubasik mentioned he expects a rising demand for strong rocket motors. “Over the long-term, between 5 to seven years, double-digit development on the highest line doesn’t appear unreasonable to me,” he mentioned. “We have now to, after all, spend money on the capability.”

He mentioned the bottlenecks skilled within the provide of strong rocket motors are as a result of shortages in lower-tier objects. “We’ve made good progress in that regard, investing in our suppliers, getting further suppliers. I proceed to assume the more cash the federal government may give to the availability chain, the higher off we’re.”

“And I proceed to imagine we don’t want a further strong rocket motor prime. What we want is somebody engaged on the igniters, the nozzles, and the instances,” mentioned Kubasik. “We’ve ordered gear to proceed to develop, whether or not it’s mixers, ovens. They sadly are likely to have a 50 to 60 week lead time.”

Associated