A New Solid Rocket Motor Facility for Lockheed Martin and Raytheon

November 13, 2025

Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have established new solid rocket motor production agreements with Avio. (Image: Raytheon)

Avio, the Italian space propulsion manufacturer, recently announced separate deals with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to establish a new solid rocket motor (SRM) production facility in the U.S.

Under the agreements, both Lockheed and Raytheon will have preferred access to a portion of the Avio USA plant production capacity. The preferred access agreements will help each company meet future demand for its products while enhancing supply chain resilience to the U.S. industrial base for both tactical and strategic-sized solid rocket motors

Avio is also preparing to negotiate strategic cooperation agreements with both companies in the near future to further align with the common goal of increasing domestic supply for cost effective propulsion systems.

The Raytheon partnership is the latest agreement between the two companies, building on a contract signed in July 2024 for preliminary engineering work on the Mk104 rocket motor and a recent purchase order to fund through Critical Design Review and procurement of long lead material for qualification.

“This agreement will help establish an additional supplier of solid rocket motors within the U.S. and demonstrates our commitment to meeting the increasing demands of our customers,” said Bob Butz, Vice President of Operations, Supply Chain and Quality at Raytheon. “By leveraging Avio’s experience and unique capabilities in solid rocket motor propulsion development and manufacturing, we’re strengthening our capacity for critical weapon systems.

Raytheon sees the agreement with Avio as part of its new company-wide "composable weapons" strategy that leverages strategic industry partnerships to design and produce more flexible and adaptable missile defense systems. The company also recently conducted a static fire test of an advanced solid rocket motor in collaboration with Anduril and the Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate.

Avio will also use the new facility to serve Lockheed Martin and other customers as a "vertically integrated merchant supplier" of solid rocket motors.

“Collaboration with Avio strengthens Lockheed Martin’s commitment to a diverse, resilient supply chain for solid rocket motors — key to our 21st Century Security® vision. This term sheet positions us to increase production of essential capabilities and deliver them to our customers faster as global demand grows,” said Tim Cahill, President of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

The Avio agreement is Lockheed's latest effort to expand U.S.-based production of SRMs in recent years. In August 2024 for example, the company signed a teaming agreement with General Dynamics to produce SRMs for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS). A year later, the two companies provided updates on the SRM manufacturing site that they're building in Camden, Arkansas.

The two teams officially broke ground in April on critical infrastructure to support this effort. Since breaking ground, the collaboration has focused on building supply chain resilience and bringing advanced propulsion capabilities to market. The program recently achieved several key milestones, including the progression of major subcomponent design and testing, a critical design review of all SRM elements, and the execution of a full scale inert SRM build validating critical tooling, assembly, and production processes to ensure reliability and repeatability in manufacturing.

“We are very pleased with the steady progress we are making in the development and production of solid rocket motors," said Jerry Brode, vice president of Lockheed Martin's Solid Rocket Motor Product Center. “Successfully hitting these critical design and production milestones highlights the momentum behind the program and strong industry collaboration. Together with our partners, we are creating a new source of supply for a critical component of the nation’s defense.”

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