The deal will help speed up manufacturing of Javelin, Stinger, and GMLRS rockets. The Pentagon will invest $216 million to expand and modernize Aerojet Rocketdyne manufacturing facilities in Arkansas, Alabama, and Virginia in an attempt to boost production of rocket motors used in a host of missiles given to Ukraine.
Aerojet gets $215 million to boost production of solid rocket motors used in weapons for Ukraine
The contract with Aerojet was funded by the Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act that Congress passed last year
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department has agreed to provide Aerojet Rocketdyne $215.6 million to expand its rocket propulsion manufacturing faciltiies in order to speed up production of missiles for Ukraine, the Pentagon announced April 14.
Aerojet Rocketdyne, headquartered in El Segundo, California, makes rocket engines and propulsion systems for space vehicles, ballistic missiles and military tactical weapons.
The agreement was announced by DoD’s Office of Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP), which manages the department’s strategic investments in industrial base capabilities under the Defense Production Act.
The contract with Aerojet was funded by the Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act that Congress passed last year to help Ukraine repel the Russian invasion that started in February 2022.
Aerojet will use the funds to expand and modernize facilities in Camden, Arkansas; Huntsville, Alabama; and Orange County, Virginia, where the company manufactures rocket propulsion systems.
The company will “modernize manufacturing processes at the company’s facilities, consolidate production lines, purchase equipment, build systems to process data, and increase production and delivery speed for Javelins, Stingers, and the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS),” said DoD.
The U.S. has provided Javelins, Stingers and GMLRS rockets to Ukraine. “The modernization of Aerojet Rocketdyne facilities will benefit DoD as it replenishes its ammunition supplies,” DoD noted.
Restocking Ukraine’s dwindling ammunition supplies has been a challenge for the U.S. and allies. The GMLRS GPS-guided artillery rockets propelled by solid-fuel rocket motors have been especially in high demand and DoD has asked suppliers to speed up production.
The U.S. Army’s GMLRS rockets, made by Lockheed Martin, are fired from mobile launchers known as HIMARS, which have been successful in hitting Russian supply lines and command posts.
Investment in facilities and skilled labor. DoD’s industrial base office is “moving forward with appropriate urgency to support strategic industrial sectors crucial to protecting national security,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said in the April 14 announcement.
The investment in Aerojet will “modernize rocket propellant and motor production in the United States, in addition to creating technical and skilled labor jobs at multiple domestic facilities,” she said.
> Aerojet Rocketdyne in March announced it was working to “improve its processes to deliver advanced solid rocket motors to Lockheed Martin to power the Army’s GMLRS.”
The company produces the composite case motors for the GMLRS Insensitive Munitions Propulsion System variant, and is the sole producer of the steel-case solid rocket motors for the GMLRS variant used by many U.S. allies.
“The GMLRS has been used to great effect by Ukrainian forces in their fight to defend their nation,” Aerojet said in a March 23 news release.
Aerojet, one of only two major U.S. defense producers of solid rocket motors, in the process of being acquired by L3Harris Technologies pending regulatory approval."
16 hours ago — Aerojet Rocketdyne Awarded $215.6M to Supplement Ongoing Modernization Efforts and Increase Solid Rocket Motor Manufacturing Capacity.
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$215Aerojet gets $215 million to boost production of solid rocket motors used in weapons for Ukraine https://spacenews.com/aerojet-gets-215-million-to-boost- ...
12 hours ago — Aerojet gets $215 million to boost production of solid rocket motors used in weapons for Ukraine · Aerojet Rocketdyne, based in Sacramento, ...
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Twitter · 3 weeks ago
Watch as the eSR-73 advanced large solid rocket motor roars to life during its inaugural test at Aerojet Rocketdyne's Camden, AR site.
YouTube · Aerojet Rocketdyne · Sep 22, 2021
_The United States is sending its most advanced ground-based missile defense system to Ukraine, as Russia continues to pummel the country ...
YouTube · American Fighter · 1 day ago
Media & News Company Ukraine t.me/vmolnia Joined March 2022 ... a $215 million agreement with Aerojet Rocketdyne to modernize and increase the production of ...
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