Startup X-Bow Systems on Monday said the Large Solid Rocket Motor (LRSM) it is developing to become a second source supplier for two Army and Navy hypersonic weapons programs has successfully advanced through the Defense Department’s System Requirements Review (SRR), keeping the program on schedule.
The SRR was the first major technical review for the LRSM, X-Bow said.
The company is developing its SRM to be qualified as a second source for the Navy-designed Conventional Prompt Strike Weapon System, and the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon System, which are being developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT] for intermediate-range strike applications. Northrop Grumman [NOC] is the current supplier of the SRMs for both weapons under subcontracts directly to Lockheed Martin.
X-Bow’s funding is provided by the DoD Innovation Capability and Modernization Office, which aims to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base in various areas. Last September, the company received a $64 million award from the DoD office for the LRSM development, funding the company believes moves it closer to getting to an eventual production contract (Defense Daily, Oct. 9, 2023).
X-Bow has expertise in additive manufacturing, particularly for its energetics, a capability it believes will lower production costs and increase production rates. Jason Hundley, the company’s founder and CEO, told Defense Daily last October that initially the Navy’s Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division in Maryland will produce the propellant for the LRSM qualification effort based on X-Bow’s design, but not using 3D printing techniques.
Hundley said that the company’s SRM design will demonstrate lower production costs. He also said then that the contract includes unfunded options that DoD could use to further develop X-Bow’s additive manufacturing capabilities for the propellants to reduce risk. Venture funding could be applied to risk reduction efforts, he said.
Lockheed Martin is one of X-Bow’s venture backers.
“Affordable weapon systems are crucial for ensuring accessible defense capabilities,” Tony Spidale, X-Box’s LRSM program director, said in a statement. “Achieving this milestone signifies X-Bow’s commitment of innovation, paired with shortened design and development timelines, and a focus on affordability.”
Next up for X-Bow with LRSM is “proceeding with preliminary design, critical component qualification activities, and material procurement,” the company said.
In addition to the hypersonic weapon programs, X-Bow is trying to position itself as an alternative source for the Navy’s Standard Missile-6 air defense weapon. The company, and others, is under contract with the Naval Energetic Systems and Technologies partnership to develop SRMs for the first and stage boosters for the SM-6. The Aerojet Rocketdyne business of L3Harris Technologies [LHX] currently supplies the SRMs for the SM-6, which is manufactured by RTX [RTX].