X-Bow Systems, which describes itself as the United States’ leading non-traditional supplier of advanced manufactured solid rocket motors (SRMs), announced on 22 October 2024 the successful third flight of its Bolt Rocket.
The test, which took place in mid-September at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, featured the company’s 34-inch (864 mm) Ballesta-34 SRM, nicknamed the XB-32, which is the largest advanced-manufactured solid-propellant (AMSP) motor ever flown. The test thus confirmed the scalability and effectiveness of X-Bow’s approach, demonstrating that affordable, large-scale production of SRMs is achievable through the use of additively manufactured energetics.
The Commercial Mission-1 (CM-1) flight successfully gathered critical data for pre- and post-flight analysis, validating the Ballesta-34 SRM’s performance and confirming X-Bow’s ability to accurately predict SRM characteristics. The fully in-house designed, developed, and operated Bolt rocket family will now conduct multiple further missions in partnership with Los Alamos National Labs.
“Sponsored by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and US Army Space and Missile Defense Command and with further support from Redwire, New Mexico Tech, DARPA [the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency], and Air Force Research Labs, this mission represents a new era of options for both commercial and defense contractors in SRM manufacturing,” X-Bow stated in a press release. “X-Bow’s innovative ‘digital-twin’ technology and modular SRM production allow customers to tailor SRM performance to specific mission needs, providing unmatched flexibility compared to traditional single-point designs. This capability positions X-Bow as a leader in an industry where capacity and development constraints often limit new entrants.”
Jason Hundley, X-Bow CEO, was quoted as saying, “This successful launch validates our commitment to advanced manufacturing of energetics. Unlike traditional methods, X-Bow’s patented technology allows us to design, produce, and test SRMs with unprecedented speed, precision and scalability.”
Hundley said the flight test used 10-20 tactical SRMs’ worth of propellant, which was “all manufactured here in New Mexico through our partnership with New Mexico Tech’s Energetics Material Research Test Center.
“We have seen how the Cold War-era model of development, production and stockpiling – coupled with over-consolidation in the industrial base – has left the US and its allies unprepared for the demands of rapid scaling, production and innovation,” said Hundley. “At X-Bow, we’re addressing this by building the nation’s second-largest SRM factory, completing it in a fraction of the time and cost compared to traditional capabilities. We are the only company today, with a flight-validated manufacturing process, adding significant new capacity for SRM production for the US and its allies.”
