US solid rocket motor (SRM) manufacturer X-Bow Systems announced on 29 October 2025 that it is to become the first customer to adopt the Astris AI Factory: a secure, end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI) platform developed by Lockheed Martin’s Astris AI business.
The move is designed to accelerate X-Bow’s ability to meet urgent national security production demands by establishing a trusted digital backbone for its factory operations. In applying defence-grade AI to X-Bow’s most sensitive, mission-critical functions, from secure data governance to factory control, adoption of the Astris AI Factory will directly enable affordable and faster delivery of tactical rocket motors.
X-Bow is in the process of establishing an accredited digital environment, with its first application being a secure AI agent. This initial governance step is critical to rapidly scaling affordable production for US missile and hypersonics programmes by proving the platform’s security for all proprietary advanced manufactured solid propellant (AMSP) processes.
Using the Astris AI Factory, which is already proven in classified environments, allows X-Bow to handle its core manufacturing IP with defence-grade security, ensuring data integrity from design to deployment. The platform’s strategic operational focus is on advanced manufacturing control, leveraging a generative AI and machine learning operations framework to free up engineering time and improve process control, enabling rapid, reliable iterations essential for defence production.
X-Bow’s agreement with Astris AI thus paves the way for X-Bow to rapidly extend the Astris AI Factory platform across its manufacturing enterprise, enabling real-time production execution and higher throughput for tactical and large-scale rocket motors.
“This customer agreement dramatically improves our ability to secure the necessary accreditation to scale up manufacturing,” Jason Hundley, founder and CEO of X-Bow Systems, was quoted as stating in a company press release. “This secure, accredited digital backbone is a game-changer for data governance and production integrity, allowing us to focus our engineering resources on delivering rapid, affordable solid rocket motors for our customers.”
James Droskoski, CRO at Astris AI, added, “This collaboration marks a defining moment in bringing trusted and reliable AI directly to mission-critical environments. By integrating the Astris AI Factory platform into X-Bow’s advanced manufacturing operations, we’re helping deliver a secure, data-driven foundation that accelerates production, strengthens supply chain resilience and upholds the highest standards of national security. Together, we’re proving that AI can transform both speed and affordability for critical systems that protect our nation.”
