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Northrop Grumman test fired a new SRM demonstrator, the company announced Aug. 6.
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama—Traditional and new entrants to solid rocket motor (SRM) production are touting new increases to production capacity and other developments as the need for SRMs will continue to expand.
Production of SRMs has become a pressure point in the supply chain of key munitions, from strategic interceptors to small missiles and rockets. The Pentagon used funding through the Defense Production Act (DPA) and facility expansion contracts to expand capacity to address the need.
Traditional SRM heavy hitters L3Harris and Northrop Grumman have recently spent their own money to expand their facilities, along with some DPA funding.
L3Harris on Aug. 4 unveiled a new expanded facility near here. The Advanced Manufacturing Facility-South has 379,000 ft.2 of manufacturing space for inert solid rocket motor components, such as nozzles, exit cones, aft closures and cases. The company spent about $20 million to renovate its facility, with DPA money going toward additional equipment and tooling.
The company says the facility focuses on producing Standard Missile components, along with the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System and Javelin missiles. It joins another facility on the site that opened in 2019.
Northrop Grumman, the largest producer of SRMs, is opening multiple new facilities at sites in Maryland, Utah and West Virginia with the goal of increasing production to 25,000 per year from the current 13,000. The company also announced Aug. 6 that it conducted the second full-scale static test of a new SRM developed in less than a year. The Solid Motor Annual Rocket Technology Demonstrator (SMART Demo) was produced using additive manufacturing, including with tooling components and the nozzle structure, along with an improved propellant.
Anduril, a new entrant to the market following its acquisition of Adronos in 2023, is calling itself the third supplier of SRMs in the U.S. The company formally opened a full-rate production facility in McHenry, Mississippi, where it expects to produce 6,000 tactical motors by the end of 2026. The company also has test fired two motors for the Standard Missile program.
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