{"id":90127,"date":"2024-03-11T08:59:45","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T12:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=90127"},"modified":"2024-03-11T08:59:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T12:59:46","slug":"surging-rocket-motor-demand-drives-pentagon-to-buy-from-upstart-ursa-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=90127","title":{"rendered":"Surging rocket motor demand drives Pentagon to buy from upstart Ursa Major"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a9 Reuters. Javelin anti-tank missiles are displayed on the assembly line as U.S. President Joe Biden tours a Lockheed Martin weapons factory in Troy, Alabama, U.S. May 3, 2022. REUTERS\/Jonathan Ernst\/File Photo<\/span>
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By Mike Stone<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Desperate to address surging demand for solid fuel rocket engines, the Pentagon is close to giving a contract for new motors to the untested, privately held startup Ursa Major, according to two sources familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n

While rocket motors themselves are relatively inexpensive, they play a vital role in propelling billions of dollars of missiles and rockets on order to supply the war efforts in Ukraine and Israel, and to re-stock dwindling U.S. inventories.<\/p>\n

The contract – expected to be small and to fall under the Pentagon’s development programs – would be a big vote of confidence in the upstart defense contractor as officials seek more suppliers beyond the two dominant rocket engine makers – Northrop Grumman <\/span><\/span> (NYSE:) and L3 Harris Technologies. There are other recent entrants including X-Bow Systems.<\/p>\n

It also shows the Defense Department’s growing appetite for risk to resolve what officials called a “major crisis.”<\/p>\n

“As soon as I get the FY (fiscal year) ’24 budget I am going to drop it on a small company that is going to do additive manufacturing of a solid rocket motor,” Heidi Shyu, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, told Congress last week.<\/p>\n

She did not name of the company or give a size of the contract during her testimony, but did say the company had been working closely with the Navy, adding, “we can’t wait to get them on contract.”<\/p>\n

A congressional aide and an industry executive who spoke on condition of anonymity said Shyu was referring to Ursa Major, a privately held company that uses 3-D printing to make rocket motors.<\/p>\n

A representative of Ursa Major declined to comment. The Pentagon declined further comment on the possible award.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ursa Major is headquartered in Berthoud, Colorado, and backed by investors including RTX Ventures, BlackRock (NYSE:) and Eclipse.<\/p>\n

Ursa Major’s website features the launch of a Javelin anti-tank missile, a weapon heavily used in Ukraine’s efforts to combat the Russian invasion for the last two years. Ursa Major says it can make rocket motors between 2 and 22 inches in diameter.<\/p>\n

The industry executive from a large defense prime contractor said Ursa Major’s motors can be used in any small diameter weapon like the new Boeing (NYSE:) and SAAB product the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), RTX’s SM-6 rockets and Lockheed Martin <\/span><\/span> (NYSE:)’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) which are used heavily in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Lockheed Martin was making about 4,600 GMLRS per year but has ramped production since 2022. More than 5,000 have been sent to Ukraine so far, according to a Reuters analysis. GMLRS production is scheduled to ramp from 10,000 deliveries in 2024 to 14,000 deliveries in 2025 as demand surges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden’s 2024 budget request was the first to procure missiles and other munitions with multi-year contracts, something that is routine for planes and ships, as the Pentagon signals enduring demand to top munitions makers.<\/p>\n

That 2024 budget, which is still not through Congress, earmarked $11 billion to “deliver a mix of highly lethal precision weapons” which included hypersonic prototyping and the multiyear procurements of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASM), and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), and Standard Missile 6 (SM-6).<\/p>\n

Ursa Major has raised $274 million from investors and has a valuation of $750 million according to PitchBook data.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a9 Reuters. Javelin anti-tank missiles are displayed on the assembly line as U.S. President Joe Biden tours a Lockheed Martin weapons factory in Troy, Alabama, U.S. May 3, 2022. REUTERS\/Jonathan Ernst\/File Photo By Mike Stone WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Desperate to address surging demand for solid fuel rocket engines, the Pentagon is close to giving a contract […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-90127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-featured","post_format-post-format-video"],"yoast_head":"\nSurging rocket motor demand drives Pentagon to buy from upstart Ursa Major | iFintechWorld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a9 Reuters. 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