ABQ-based X-Bow wins $64M DOD contract

Albuquerque-based startup X-Bow Systems won a $64 million defense contract that could set the company up as a long-term supplier of solid-state rocket motors for advanced weapons systems.

Under the contract, X-Bow (pronounced “crossbow”) will fully adapt its proprietary rocket-motor technology for use on hypersonic weapons systems managed by both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy. And, through that process, the company expects to establish rapid, low-cost production capacity to manufacture made-to-order, solid-state rocket motors for different U.S. Department of Defense missile systems, potentially converting the startup into a stable, large-scale producer of rocket motors for the DOD.

X-Bow founder and CEO Jason Hundley called it a “qualification contract” to show that the company’s rocket-motor technology is fully adaptable for use on Army and Navy systems, and, in the long-term, on other types of DOD missiles as well.

“It’s the ante into the procurement system to on-ramp our technology into a ‘program of record’ for the DOD,” Hundley told the Journal. “…Under the contract, the DOD will make sure our technology is suitable for its needs.”

Once fully vetted and accepted into a “program of record,” X-Bow technology could then become an option for government agencies to procure the company’s rocket motors under noncompetitive, sole-source contracts, Hundley added.

“You go through the qualification process to get to sustainable production-and-supply agreements,” he said.

That’s an impressive achievement for an eight-year-old startup with entirely new technology that only emerged from “stealth mode” in spring 2022.

The company, which originally launched in 2016, has designed a completely new, 3D manufacturing process for making solid-state rocket propellant that reduces the typical time for producing fuel from six-to-eight weeks today to just two-to-three days. That entire manufacturing process is enclosed in compact shipping containers that X-Bow calls a “Rocket Factory in a Box.”

Alongside the propellant-making process, it’s built highly flexible solid-state rocket motors that can easily be scaled up or down in size, depending on what’s needed. And, the motors are designed to be integrated with the rocket propellant through a simple, snap-in procedure using cartridges that encapsulate the fuel.

Taken together, it’s groundbreaking technology that can dramatically speed the production process for both rocket motors and the solid-state propellant that powers them, significantly lowering costs, according to the company.

In addition, X-Bow has also created a new, proprietary suite of suborbital and orbital launch vehicles that it’s been testing since last year together with its rocket motors and propellant at White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico.

The company is headquartered at a 5,000-square-foot office in Uptown Albuquerque. It also operates a manufacturing research-and-development complex in Socorro at the New Mexico Institute for Mining and Technology’s Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center. It conducts rocket motor and propellant testing there while working to scale up the size of its rocket motors from the six-inch diameter, 10-to-20 pound ones that it’s used so far at White Sands to 32-inch diameter motors — and potentially larger ones — for use on bigger rockets that will fly faster and higher.

It’s planning to build a commercial rocket motor and propellant manufacturing plant in Texas. But all its research, development and launch testing will remain in New Mexico.

The new DOD contract comes from the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization office, which is overseen by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. The goal is to expand manufacturing capacity and reduce the production cost of solid rocket motors, or SRMs, that depend on solid-state propellant rather than liquid fuel, creating an additional, sustainable SRM supply chain for the DOD.

Under the contract, X-Bow will specifically adapt its SRM technology for the Navy’s hypersonic “All-Up-Round” missile — which is used in the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike weapon system — and for the Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon system.

“This effort is a key component of the DOD’s strategy to accelerate the development and fielding of hypersonic systems to deliver cutting-edge capabilities and options to our armed forces,” DOD Principal Director for Hypersonics James Weber said in a statement. “X-Bow will be a critical partner in building our enduring advantage in the national defense mission.”

Establishing robust, resilient supply chains that support hypersonic systems is critical for the DOD, said Laura Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy.

“This award represents another vital step by the Department to strengthen the domestic capabilities of the defense industrial base by continuing to pursue novel processes that will ensure the U.S. remains a leader in manufacturing technologies,” Taylor-Kale said in a statement.

Hypersonic weapons, however, may be just the tip of the iceberg for X-Bow, CEO Hundley said.

“We believe we’ll see increased interest in using our technology on other DOD platforms as well,” Hundley told the Journal.

The company — which previously raised $27 million in venture investment to build its technology — won a $60 million award early this year under the U.S. Air Force’s AFWERX program, which can be drawn down through targeted Air Force contracts to help finance further development of X-Bow’s rocket motor system. That led to an initial $17.8 million Air Force Research Laboratory contract in September for X-Bow to help AFRL’s Rapid Energetics & Advanced Rocket Manufacturing program in reducing cost and timelines for producing solid rocket motor propellant and equipment.

The Air Force uses solid rocket motors in air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and satellite launchers.

X-Bow currently employs about 100 people in New Mexico and other states. The new $64 million DOD contract will lead to dozens of new hires in the coming months, Hundley said.