Miles Jamison
Anduril Rocket Motor Systems has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army to develop a new solid rocket motor, or SRM, as part of efforts to strengthen national defense in response to emerging global threats.
The company said Friday it will develop and qualify a 4.75-inch SRM intended to enhance the service branch’s long-range precision rocket artillery capabilities.
Enhancing Firepower with Advanced Rocket Motor Design
The 4.75-inch SRM is designed to boost the magazine capacity of existing launcher constraints to enable high-volume precision fires without changing the systems’ footprint. Anduril aims to develop a new rocket engine that will allow up to 30 guided rockets on each High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, pod while keeping the range, effectiveness and lethality.
The company also intends to utilize both traditional aluminized propellant and its own ALITEC fuel to produce and evaluate the rocket motors. Anduril is one of the companies pioneering the use of this company form factor for the Army.
Boosting Rocket Motor Performance with ALITEC
ALITEC, Anduril’s proprietary aluminum-lithium alloy propellant, is designed to boost rocket motor performance and efficiency by enhancing munition range and lessening its size, weight and power consumption. If successful, Anduril’s ALITEC-powered SRMs will provide long-range strike capabilities similar to larger systems, but with a more compact and efficient design.
Anduril is utilizing the $14.3M Defense Production Act award it received in January along with its own $75 million investment to to implement advanced production of the SRMs.
