Christine Thropp
Sierra Space will advance the development of a 35,000 lbf thrust upper stage engine under a 27-month, $22.6 million firm-fixed-price contract from the U.S. Air Force.
Work for the maturation of Vortex advanced upper stage engine or VR35K-A will involve designing flight-weight engine components through the use of component and integrated breadboard engine test data, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.
Design development will be conducted at the Broomfield, Colorado-based headquarters of the Sierra Nevada Corp. business. Work has an expected completion date of Oct. 25, 2025.
The Air Force is obligating $20.5 million in fiscal year 2022 research, development, test and evaluation funds at time of award of the sole-source contract.
Co-developed with the Air Force Research Laboratory, Vortex is anticipated to generate more thrust power and higher specific impulse for increased capability. It passed critical design review in August 2022.
