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Anduril awarded Defense Production Act investment to expand Solid Rocket Motor industrial base

Californian company Anduril Industries has been awarded US$14.3 million ($23 million) by the US Department of Defense under Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) to expand the United States’ Solid Rocket Motors (SRM) industrial base. Strained munitions production underscored by recent global conflicts has led Congress and the Department of Defense to prioritize strengthening the SRM industrial base, the company says.

This US government investment is compounded by the company’s own US$75 million ($120 million) investment to produce large volumes of SRMs at what it says is greatly reduced cost.

At its facility in McHenry, Mississippi, Anduril is utilizing this DPA Title III investment to develop and qualify next-generation SRMs that demonstrate innovative manufacturing technologies, like bladeless speed-mixing, single-piece flow, and advanced manufacturing technologies.

This funding will also bolster Anduril’s existing work to design, build, and test second-stage rocket motors for programs of record and other large-scale weapons, including the US Navy’s SM-6 missile.

At the same time it announced the DPA investment, Anduril Rocket Motor Systems also announced it had successfully conducted a static test firing of its Anduril Denali™ 18-inch hypersonic booster at the company’s 450-acre (182 hectare) production and test facility in McHenry, Mississippi. The company said this milestone marked a significant step forward in delivering affordable, advanced hypersonic propulsion and a step-change improvement over existing systems by providing advanced capability at a fraction of the cost of legacy options.

As an independent merchant supplier of solid rocket motor propulsion systems, Anduril’s aim is disrupting the legacy industrial base, which it says has struggled to meet the demand for high-performance rocket motors. To further drive innovation and affordability, Anduril announced late last year a partnership with fellow California company Karman Space & Defense. The two companies have demonstrated how non-traditional providers can inject agility and competition into the supply chain by developing, testing, and delivering the Denali rocket motor case.

In Australia Anduril is one of at least five companies expected to respond to Defence’s Request for Information late last year on establishing a rocket motor manufacturing complex in Australia. The RFI closed in early December and Thales Australia, Northrop Grumman Australia, L3Harris and Queensland company Black Sky Aerospace are also known to have shown interest. Defence’s Science & Technology Group (DSTG) has been running an Advanced Rocket Motor Technology Demonstrator program to upskill Australian suppliers.

Defence’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise aims to deliver a sovereign SRM capability to support the ADF’s acquisition of long-range strike and anti-ship missiles.

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