{"id":13430,"date":"2023-10-31T18:56:12","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T21:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=13430"},"modified":"2023-10-31T18:56:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-31T21:56:12","slug":"crece-la-demanda-en-el-mercado-de-motores-cohete-de-propulsante-solido","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=13430","title":{"rendered":"Crece la demanda en el mercado de motores cohete de propulsante s\u00f3lido"},"content":{"rendered":"

La empresa L3Harris adquiri\u00f3 uno de los dos principales proveedores de Motores Cohete de Propulsante S\u00f3lido, la reconocida firma Aerojet Rocketdyne. Los recientes conflictos en curso y otros que se avecinan, han producido un incremento de la demanda de propulsantes para sistemas de armas cr\u00edticos como el misil Atan Javelin, el antia\u00e9reo port\u00e1til (MANPADS) Stinger o los cohetes para los MLRS. Por ello, estos reposicionamientos de empresas tienen por objetivo establecer programas de incremento de las capacidades productivas de los establecimientos industriales, para destrabar los \u201ccuellos de botella\u201d que se producen, especialmente en lo relacionado con componentes de los motores y sus propulsantes. La fusi\u00f3n de ambas empresas, posiciona a L3Harris como un \u201cjugador clave\u201d en el lucrativo mercado de los misiles, sus motores, el desarrollo de las tecnolog\u00edas de hipers\u00f3nicos y otros sistemas de armas.<\/p>\n

\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 After\u00a0L3Harris Technologies acquired<\/a>\u00a0one of the two U.S.-based solid rocket motor providers in July, the new division\u2019s chief embarked on a barnstorming tour of the sector.<\/p>\n

For nearly two months, Ross Niebergall bounced from one\u00a0newly acquired Aerojet Rocketdyne<\/a>\u00a0facility to another, he told Defense News, spending just two days in his home office as he reviewed propulsion production processes for critical weapons such as the Javelin, Stinger and Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System. One of his goals: finding ways to open up the military\u2019s constricted pipeline for rocket motors.<\/p>\n

With the\u00a0$4.7 billion purchase<\/a>, L3Harris made itself a key player in the lucrative world of missiles, munitions, hypersonic technologies and other weapons. It\u2019s a rapidly expanding sector \u2014 one that will most certainly keep growing amid global turmoil, from Israel to Ukraine to the Pacific region, said analyst Roman Schweizer with the Cowen Washington Research Group.<\/p>\n

Experts say the increasing demand but limited supply for the roughly $60 billion global rocket and missile propulsion market could continue to drive further acquisitions, partnerships and expansions. And some researchers believe that market could be worth $85 billion to $93 billion by the end of this decade.<\/p>\n

Such deals could lead to new investments in the field, potentially expanding the pipeline for critical parts and systems and boosting supply.<\/p>\n

Indeed, other companies in the rocket propulsion industry are making their own moves, reshuffling the market with potentially wide-ranging effects.<\/p>\n

Smaller\u00a0defense technology firm Anduril Industries<\/a>, for instance, in June acquired solid rocket manufacturer Adranos, which specializes in a high-performance solid rocket fuel it calls ALITEC. The deal gives Anduril its first foothold in the missile market.<\/p>\n

Additionally, X-Bow Systems, a small aerospace firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, founded in 2016, surprised competitors in the solid rocket motor industry when it received in September a $64 million contract from the Pentagon for Army and Navy hypersonic boost propulsion systems. X-Bow, pronounced \u201ccrossbow,\u201d became the first new company in decades to supply solid rocket motors to the Defense Department.<\/p>\n

And Lockheed Martin \u2014 whose bid for Aerojet Rocketdyne was stymied by federal regulators last year \u2014 is in\u00a0late-stage negotiations to partner<\/a>\u00a0with an unidentified rocket propulsion supplier, though details on that partnership remain scarce.<\/p>\n

Over the last decade, the Pentagon\u2019s annual budget requests for missiles and munitions procurement as well as related research and development have more than tripled, from $9 billion in fiscal 2015 to $30.6 billion in fiscal 2024. And it\u2019s unlikely lawmakers will stop pressuring the Pentagon to catch up with China and Russia on developing hypersonic weapons.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Aerojet Rocketdyne received a $216 million Pentagon contract in April 2023 to accelerate the production and delivery of weapons for Ukraine, including the anti-tank Javelin missile. (Sgt. Marcos A. Alvarado\/U.S. Marine Corps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This could mean continued jockeying as companies seek to position themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a stronger demand signal than there is supply, and some people see an opportunity to build into these markets,\u201d said Byron Callan, a defense industry analyst and managing partner at the research firm Capital Alpha Partners. \u201cYou see a need, you\u2019re going to fulfill it.\u201d<\/p>\n

L3Harris makes its play<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a September interview at L3Harris\u2019 Washington office, Niebergall said the company in early 2022 reviewed which defense markets it had a hand in \u2014 and where it was essentially on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

One area that jumped out was the missiles and rocket industry, a multibillion-dollar market \u201cthat we weren\u2019t effectively participating in a significant way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When Lockheed Martin backed off its attempted acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne following a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, L3Harris saw an opening to make itself a major supplier in the growing rocket engine and propulsion business.<\/p>\n

L3Harris envisioned Aerojet as mainly acting as a supplier on major programs, not a prime contractor. That strategy would allow L3Harris \u201cto be on as many teams as possible\u201d for missiles and rocket programs.<\/p>\n

Now, L3Harris is trying to determine how to apply its expertise and resources to the Aerojet business. As Niebergall toured Aerojet facilities and as L3Harris combed through the workflow processes for flagship programs \u2014 including propulsion systems for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, the Army Tactical Missile System, the Standard Missile series and the Patriot air defense system \u2014 the company found chokepoints a tier lower in the supply chain.<\/p>\n

For example, Niebergall said, with some weapon programs\u2019 designs dating back to the 1970s, often only a single, small manufacturer is qualified to make a particular kind of steel motor case or component Aerojet needs. This hinders the company\u2019s ability to surge production on such systems if necessary.<\/p>\n

And in some cases, Niebergall said, Aerojet didn\u2019t have full visibility into the programs on which it served as a subcontractor and was \u201cheld at arm\u2019s length from understanding the full mission.\u201d Without that full picture, Aerojet was unable to suggest ways to refine or improve customers\u2019 requirements, he added.<\/p>\n

But now L3Harris can \u201cbridge that gap and bridge that understanding,\u201d Niebergall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy focus is going to be working to help create the health of that entire supply chain so that we can ramp up our delivery for what we anticipate are increased demands,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

This story will likely continue to play out in the market, said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank. As companies\u2019 work on missiles, space rockets and hypersonic tech takes up a greater share of the market, he explained, firms will want to insulate themselves from supply disruptions caused by labor disputes or a lack of parts.<\/p>\n

\u201cRocket fuel in particular is one where there\u2019s a very limited industrial base,\u201d Clark told Defense News. \u201cSo having another path of supply is going to be really important. Because energetics, there\u2019s only a couple of companies that make them, and they\u2019re somewhat dependent upon a unified supply chain when it comes to the underlying chemical materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the solid rocket motor-industrial base in the U.S. has gone through multiple changes in recent decades, according to a 2017 report by the Government Accountability Office. Since 1995, GAO said, the industry consolidated from six U.S. manufacturers to two \u2014\u00a0Aerojet Rocketdyne and Orbital ATK<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For its part, Lockheed Martin wants additional solid rocket motor suppliers to augment its pipeline and strengthen the supply chain, chief executive Jim Taiclet said during an Oct. 17 earnings call.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur objective is to bring anti-fragility into our own supply chain first, and to broadly apply that to the DoD,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The first step, Taiclet explained, is to find another rocket motor supplier for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System \u2014 a role now filled by both Northrop Grumman and Aerojet Rocketdyne \u2014 and then expand this approach to other programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to augment our existing supplier and have a dual source, frankly,\u201d Taiclet said. \u201cThat will extend into other systems, large and small and legacy and advanced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lockheed is still in partnership negotiations with an unidentified company, Taiclet noted, but more could be on the way.<\/p>\n

That company might be Nammo, a rocket motor firm based in Norway that also operates in the U.S., Callan said in a newsletter to investors.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Various rounds of ammunition by Nammo are on display Sept. 13, 2023, at the DSEI show in London, England. (Leon Neal\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis is not a one-shot deal,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a long journey, and we\u2019ll probably have additional participants and programs as the years and even decades roll on.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, L3Harris\u2019 first full year after the Aerojet acquisition, Niebergall said the parent firm will focus on modernizing the subsidiary\u2019s rocket propulsion manufacturing in Camden, Arkansas; Huntsville, Alabama; and Orange County, Virginia, under a nearly $216 million Pentagon contract Aerojet received in April under the Defense Production Act. This is intended to accelerate the production and delivery of Javelin, Stinger and Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System weapons for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Over decades of production, those weapons have been hampered by inconsistent stop-start patterns of orders and deliveries. Because Ukrainian forces use those three systems so heavily in its fight against Russia\u2019s invasion, the U.S. Army and the Pentagon anticipate a long-term need and want to be able to rapidly scale up production.<\/p>\n

\u201cAerojet Rocketdyne in and of [itself] is a 5,200-person company,\u201d Niebergall said. \u201cNow we\u2019re bringing the resources of a 52,000-person company to manage that as a program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once L3Harris and Aerojet make production of those weapons more consistent and prolific, Niebergall added, the parent company plans to use those upgrades as a blueprint for the rest of its programs and systems. That will include applying digital tools commonly used at L3Harris to increase automation of legacy Aerojet weapons, he said.<\/p>\n

Alan Chvotkin, a government contracting expert and partner at Washington law firm Centre Law Group, said the Aerojet acquisition \u201cpropels L3Harris into a much higher level tier among defense suppliers\u201d and could continue driving its growth.<\/p>\n

And if L3Harris can help Aerojet produce more propulsion systems \u2014 and faster \u2014 the Pentagon and prime defense firms would have more options from which to choose, Callan said.<\/p>\n

L3Harris has not ruled out its potential to serve as prime contractor on some weapons programs. Last year, for example, it was one of three companies vying to create a new stand-in attack weapon for the F-35 fighter jet. Northrop Grumman ultimately won that contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will certainly look at opportunities [to bid as a prime contractor] where it makes sense, based on our capabilities,\u201d Niebergall said.<\/p>\n

Anduril jumps in<\/strong><\/p>\n

Six-year-old Anduril has typically focused on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and autonomous drones. But its acquisition of Adranos \u2014 the company did not disclose its value \u2014 gives Anduril a toehold in the hypersonic technology and missile market.<\/p>\n

Chris Brose, Anduril\u2019s chief strategy officer, said the war in Ukraine has highlighted how critical it is to expand this market.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have enough weapons. We don\u2019t have enough rocket motors to put on the back of the weapons that we\u2019re going to need to have,\u201d Brose said. \u201cThat pie needs to grow, and we want to help win a share of the growing pie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Adranos is best known for its creation of ALITEC, an aluminum-lithium alloy fuel for solid rocket motors that it claims can produce up to a 40% range increase. (Anduril)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He said a driving force behind that problem is a lack of capacity in the solid rocket motor-industrial base, in which Aerojet Rocketdyne and Orbital ATK \u2014 acquired by Northrop in 2018 \u2014 do the lion\u2019s share of the work. There\u2019s enough growth potential that a smaller company can compete and broaden the industrial capacity for rocket and missile production in the process, he argued.<\/p>\n

Solid rocket motors are used to propel everything from air-launched missiles to heavy-lift rockets that launch satellites into space. They burn a solid propellant consisting of a fuel and oxidizer mixture, which is encased in a cylinder, ignited and exhausted through a nozzle.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if the government were pouring money into both of those companies, we\u2019re still going to need more capacity to generate the weapons required to be relevant in an INDOPACOM scenario,\u201d Brose said, referring to the potential for conflict in the Indo-Pacific region involving the U.S. military.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government needs Aerojet Rocketdyne. The government needs Northrop Grumman-Orbital ATK. But we also need new capacity, new entrants who can really get to scale and provide rocket motors to produce larger quantities of weapons,\u201d Brose added.<\/p>\n

In the last year or so, Anduril began seriously looking for a way to enter this market. Executives considered Adranos \u201cfar and away\u201d the best positioned for an acquisition, given its potential production capacity in Mississippi, the technological advancements of its production methods, and its high-performance, high-range ALITEC propellant.<\/p>\n

Brose said ALITEC could be useful for multiple weapons, particularly the RTX-made Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. And Anduril sees opportunities to provide rocket motors for everything from anti-tank munitions to advanced hypersonic weapons. Brose said Anduril is in discussions with prime contractors on such programs.<\/p>\n

Anduril\u2019s acquisition of Adranos brought with it the smaller company\u2019s 450-acre production facility in Mississippi, set up to produce these systems. The parent firm is now looking to modernize and further develop that facility to bolster production capacity, Brose said, and allow for the production of more standard solid rocket motors in addition to more motors that use ALITEC fuel.<\/p>\n

A new entrant<\/strong><\/p>\n

X-Bow Systems, a small company of about 100 employees, originally focused on commercial small launches when it was founded in 2016, chief executive Jason Hundley told Defense News. Its plan was to buy solid rocket motors from major suppliers, he said, but the company quickly found that was unaffordable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were going to be serious about this launch technology based on solid rocket motors, to do this economically, we were going to have to take this problem on ourselves,\u201d Hundley said. \u201cBecause we didn\u2019t know of any other suppliers out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

X-Bow took a different approach and now specializes in three areas: launch services, energetics technology, and designing and building an array of solid rocket motors.<\/p>\n

But as the firm broadened its reach, it saw the U.S. military\u2019s scope also widening to encompass hypersonic programs. Also in play was the Air Force\u2019s next-generation nuclear missile, dubbed Sentinel. These two areas were receiving significant investments, with the Sentinel procurement alone likely to cost at least $85 billion.<\/p>\n

The company began to try to crack the military propulsion market, and its move paid off in September with a $64 million contract, making it a large solid rocket motor provider for the Pentagon \u2014 the military\u2019s third.<\/p>\n

Under this contract, X-Bow\u2019s solid rocket motors will power the Navy\u2019s hypersonic all-up round for its Conventional Prompt Strike weapon system as well as the Army\u2019s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon System.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Pentagon has hired X-Bow Systems to provide solid rocket motors to power the Navy\u2019s hypersonic all-up round for its Conventional Prompt Strike weapon system, seen here in an artist\u2019s rendering. (Lockheed Martin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

X-Bow in February opened a new facility at a decommissioned airport in Luling, Texas, south of Austin, to build solid rocket motors and hypersonic technology. The firm plans to spend $25 million developing the facility over the next two years. In a release earlier this year, the company said it had already finished building a hangar and several solid rocket motor test pads there.<\/p>\n

Hundley said X-Bow\u2019s smaller footprint at locations such as its Texas facility will allow it to focus on affordability as it creates propulsion systems for the Army and Navy.<\/p>\n

\u2018Massive demand\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even as these companies expand, demand continues to grow. The Ukrainian military has rained down scores of artillery shells and rockets on Russian targets on a virtually daily basis, while Israel has launched airstrikes at the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

Both Ukraine and Israel receive supplies from the United States. And to fill those battlefield needs \u2014 plus stock U.S. forces and other foreign customers \u2014 continued government and market investment in this sector is almost guaranteed, according to Schweizer, the defense analyst with Cowen Washington Research Group.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s massive demand for rocket motors,\u201d Schweizer said. \u201cAnd when there\u2019s an oversized market opportunity, companies will go after that. That\u2019s where the money\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n

But with relatively few companies providing such technology, he noted, over time the industry may see new entrants reach the upper end of the high-performance rocket market.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s also some concerns within DoD about having such a constrained industrial base and supply chain, so it\u2019s a function of expanding that as well,\u201d Schweizer said.<\/p>\n

Anduril and other companies \u201clook at the billions of dollars that are going to be spent on refilling U.S. weapons inventories, increasing stockpiles, the fact that there are hundreds of rocket-propelled munitions being shot every day,\u201d he added. \u201cThere is significant demand for at least a decade or more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just, sadly, a good business to be in right now, given the state of affairs in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuente:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.defensenews.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La empresa L3Harris adquiri\u00f3 uno de los dos principales proveedores de Motores Cohete de Propulsante S\u00f3lido, la reconocida firma Aerojet Rocketdyne. Los recientes conflictos en… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,37,24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13436,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13430\/revisions\/13436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}