X-Bow Awarded $69.7M to Develop Advanced Solid Rocket Motor for Navy Missiles
X-Bow Systems Inc has been awarded a nearly $70 million contract by the U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island to develop and qualify an advanced solid rocket motor booster for future Navy missiles. The funding will support development, qualification, and tooling efforts at X-Bow's Luling, Texas facility, with plans to establish a production line capable of manufacturing up to 500 motors annually by leveraging the company’s Modular Motor Architecture. This contract is part of six new propulsion programs awarded to X-Bow in 2026 across multiple defense agencies. The program aims to replace single-purpose interceptors with a common architecture, enabling more efficient missile deployment and enhancing surface warfare capabilities. The Navy expects an initial capability by early fiscal year 2031. X-Bow's CEO emphasized the importance of breaking long-standing bottlenecks in solid rocket motor production through advanced manufacturing techniques like additive printing. This contract reinforces X-Bow’s growing role in addressing national defense needs and supports its recent expansion, with revenue and backlog more than doubling since 2023.