For an industry that hasn’t changed much in decades, the solid rocket motor (SRM) space has been on fire lately.
On Tuesday, Anduril announced that it successfully completed a static fire test of an SRM it developed and built for air-to-air weapons with RTX. Looks like everyone’s favorite neo-prime is shaking up yet another industry, and the primes are taking notice.
Weapon woes: In case you’re new around here, SRMs are the things that make missiles go far and fast, and they’re used in everything from HIMARS to Javelins, Stingers, AMRAAMs, and GMLRS.
The trouble is, as we’ve harped on about before, the SRM industry is infamously consolidated between L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne and Northrop Grumman. That duopoly has caused some big headaches for missile-makers.
New kids on the block: Anduril, along with a handful of other startups, including Ursa Major, X-Bow Systems, and Firehawk, have jumped at the chance to use some startup spice to fix the SRM old guard’s supply bottlenecks.
- Anduril snagged a $14.3M Defense Production Act (DPA) investment in January to expand SRM production, which it says it’s also invested $75M of its own money into.
- It was tapped by the US Army in March to build a 4.75-inch SRM for long-range precision rocket artillery missions.
- In June, Saab selected Anduril to design, develop, and produce SRMs for the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) system.
- And in August, Anduril opened up a full-rate SRM production facility in Mississippi, which it says will be able to pump out 6,000 motors per year by the end of 2026.
Startup shake-up: Earlier this summer, Raytheon said, “We have to have more sources of supply qualified across a number of my programs for rocket motors” to meet demand (which is, like, super high right now). Now, it looks like Raytheon’s found that new source of SRMs in Anduril.
RTX isn’t the only prime looking to startups for some SRM help. In August, Ursa Major held successful static tests of its SRM on BAE’s APKWS guided missile, a rocket that turns the unguided Hydra 70 into a laser-guided missile. The startup is also working on a new rocket motor design for the Navy’s workhorse SM-2, SM-3, and SM-6 surface-to-air missiles.
Team effort: Anduril’s static fire test of the SRM with a new Highly Loaded Grain (HLG) configuration was conducted with Raytheon’s Advanced Technology business and the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate.
The HLG design utilized technology from Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, and Anduril said that Raytheon’s Advanced Technology team provided technical expertise and oversight during the testing period.
Big boost: According to Anduril’s statement, “The [HLG] design enables significantly greater volumes of energetic propellant, delivering increased specific impulse and enhanced motor performance.” The company makes propellant using ALITEC, a proprietary aluminum-lithium alloy fuel for SRMs that they say boosts SRM performance.
“By successfully advancing this propulsion system for Raytheon, Anduril is helping shape the next era of air-launched weapons — equipping warfighters with the speed, range, and precision required to dominate the battlespace,” the company added.
The Anduril winning streak continues. Soon enough, we might catch Palmer Luckey weeping, for there won’t be any more worlds to conquer.