Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. [TDY] yesterday said it finalized its strategic alliance agreement with Aerojet-General Corp. [GY] to cooperate in the development and production of propulsion systems for launch and in-space applications.
The agreement, signed before the opening of the Paris Air Show, establishes a formal plan for Teledyne Brown and Aerojet that has been anticipated since a formal announcement was made on June 2.
The alliance is a departure from the historical single-source method of rocket design and manufacturing, and provides the customer with improved processes and lower-cost solutions, the company said in a statement.
“This alliance is a perfect blend of Teledyne Brown’s deep capabilities in space flight systems design and precision manufacturing and Aerojet’s exceptional capabilities in propulsion systems development for space and launch systems,” said Rex Geveden, president, Teledyne Brown Engineering. “This formidable team is capable of offering some exciting new alternatives to the market.”
Aerojet’s President and CEO Scott Seymour said, “This alliance will enable us to offer our customers a new paradigm by bringing together the complementary skills of Teledyne Brown’s space flight systems and precision manufacturing with Aerojet’s demonstrated capabilities in the design, manufacture and test of liquid and solid propulsion systems, to achieve an optimum combination of superior technical performance and affordability.”
The team has identified NASA’s new Space Launch System heavy-lift launch vehicle and the Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles as the alliance customers that would benefit greatly from lower-cost high-quality rocket engines.
The two companies can provide liquid hydrogen, kerosene and solid rocket propulsion systems and subsystems. Aerojet remains one of only a few domestic sources of large rocket propulsion. Teledyne provides advanced engineering and manufacturing of high precision space systems and hardware. The complementary skill sets of the two companies offer many options to lower engineering costs while improving quality and performance of these systems.