WASHINGTON — Defense contractor Anduril Industries acquired Adranos, a manufacturer of solid rocket motors, the businesses announced June 25. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Founded in 2015, Adranos manufactures solid rocket motors in coastal Mississippi and last 12 months opened a fuel-production facility in Indiana. The startup invented a proprietary aluminum-lithium alloy fuel called ALITEC to power solid rocket motors utilized in tactical missiles and space launch vehicles.
“Through this acquisition, Anduril will turn out to be a merchant supplier of solid rocket motors to prime contractors delivering missiles, hypersonics and other propulsion systems for the Department of Defense’s most vital programs,” Anduril said in a press release.
Solid rocket motors is one sector of the defense industrial base where the Pentagon worries that there should not enough domestic sources.
Currently only Northrop Grumman and Aerojet Rocketdyne are supplying solid rocket motors to DoD. Aerojet is within the strategy of being acquired by L3Harris Technologies.
Anduril said its entrance to the market as a supplier “will bring more resources and competition to an industry facing heavy consolidation.”
The corporate said it plans to speculate in Adranos’s solid rocket complex production facility in Mississippi to extend production rates.
‘Need for greater competition’
“There’s a transparent need for greater competition and expanded supply in solid rocket motors for the US and our allies,” said Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf.
Adranos CEO Chris Stoker said the acquisition will help the corporate “rapidly mature our technology and scale our team and production capabilities to 1000’s of traditional and ALITEC solid rocket motors per 12 months.”
The ALITEC fuel has been tested on tactical missile-sized solid rocket motors under a program jointly funded by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force. Adranos in 2019 said it conducted flight tests under an Army program, demonstrating that motors utilizing ALITEC fuel could increase the range of a missile system by nearly 40 percent.
Anduril Industries, founded in 2017, is a defense technology specialist based in Costa Mesa, California. The corporate focuses on artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation. It developed drones and artificial intelligence software to assist Ukrainian forces conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions.