The Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Aerospace Systems Directorate at Edwards AFB, Calif., wants to gauge the breadth of innovation for future missile propulsion under AFRL’s Rocket Lab Hermes project, which may award contracts up to $250 million over the next two decades.
“AFRL/RQRM [solid motors branch] seeks to design, develop, and demonstrate propulsion technologies for advanced missiles and similar vehicles,” AFRL said in a business notice. “The breadth of technology area includes strategic and tactical missiles, from component development to lifecycle management with a focus on facilitating technology transition to applications and users with strong emphasis on verification and validation on a system level.”
Companies expressing interest in Rocket Lab Hermes include Ursa Major Technologies, STOKE Space Technologies, Inc., SPARC Research, UES, Inc., Orbital Construction Pioneers, Inc., TGV Rockets, Inc., Supernova Industries Corp., and Velontra. TGV Rockets, Orbital Construction, and Supernova are focused on liquid propulsion and rocket engine development, while Velontra is taking on air-breathing turbine engine development.
One area of interest for Rocket Lab Hermes is the “development and demonstration of advanced components and manufacturing processes for solid rocket motors (SRMs), including inert components (the motor case, internal insulation, nozzle, thrust vector control and thrust vector actuators, etc.), energetic components (safe/arm, igniters, flight termination systems, destruct charges, etc.) and automated assembly operation.”
Two other Rocket Lab Hermes interest areas are liquid rocket engine and air-breathing turbine engine development. The liquid rocket engine effort “seeks to improve the utility of space launch system propulsion technology for resiliency and rapid launch applications,” while the air-breathing turbine engine development “seeks to design, develop, demonstrate and transition advanced turbine propulsion, power and thermal technologies that provide a disruptive improvement in affordable mission capability,” AFRL said.
“This approach extends to a range of legacy, emerging, and future military propulsion, power and thermal technology needs in multiple applications,” according to the business notice. “Technology objectives aim to reduce development, production, and maintenance costs; increase fuel efficiency; increase propulsive capability; and integrate propulsion, power, and thermal
management.”
The state of the propulsion industrial base is a stated concern for some DoD officials, and relative newcomers, including Anduril Industries, Ursa Space Technologies, and X-Bow Systems, are trying to make headway.
Texas’ Firehawk Aerospace said this month that it received a two-year, $4.9 million contract from the Air Force Test Center in support of AFRL initiatives to accelerate development of hybrid rocket engines, including solid and liquid rocket motor components, and manufacturing processes for strategic and tactical missiles (Defense Daily, June 6).
“Our transformative approach to propellant production will bring scalable, adaptable, and high-performance systems to AFRL that will shape the future of defense,” Michael Stark, Firehawk’s president, said in a statement. Firehawk said that it has done “58 hot fire tests for both hybrid and solid rocket motors, as well as one hybrid flight test.” The company uses additive manufacturing for rocket propellants.