Aerojet Rocketdyne [AJRD] on Monday said it has successfully developed and static-fire tested the Zeus 1 large solid rocket motor that will probably be utilized by Kratos Defense & Security Solutions
[KTOS] for the launch vehicle stages of its research, hypersonic and ballistic missile targets.
The test met or exceeded all performance specifications, confirming the design, the businesses said.
Development of the business Zeus 1 rocket was co-funded by each firms. The solid rocket motor was developed at Aerojet’s facilities in Huntsville, Ala., and manufactured and tested at its facility in Camden, Ark.
Aerojet can be manufacturing the Zeus 2 solid rocket motor for Kratos and can test it in Camden later this 12 months.
“This test validated the robustness of our revolutionary motor design for a reasonable hypersonic application and further demonstrated our large solid rocket motor capabilities at Camden, where we support multiple industry customers to power various defense programs,” Eileen Drake, president and CEO of Aerojet, said in an announcement.
Kratos previously said that the Zeus 1 provides substantial improvement over similar legacy solid rocket motors and permit the usage of existing payload designs and launch infrastructure while also with the ability to integrate recent payloads. These features will allow Kratos’ customers to “fly more often, faster, and farther, using fewer stages, at a substantially reduced cost,” it said.
Kratos also said the Zeus motors complement its investment within the Erinyes hypersonic “flyer” test vehicle that is anticipated to debut in early 2024, and the follow-on Dark Fury hypersonic system.