In order to achieve a sovereign guided weapons industry, Australia needs to be able to build solid rocket motors (SRM) in a plant which using the latest production technology, not what was in use in the 1950s, says defence company Anduril.
For this facility, Anduril is proposing to build an Australian version of the new plant it’s building for the US, which could be turning out SRMs in a couple of years.
Right now, Australia has limited capabilities for manufacture of SRMs, which are geared to producing small numbers of experimental rockets, not the quantities Defence’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO enterprise would like.
An exception is Gilmour Space, which builds its own rockets with an aspiration to place satellites in orbit.
“Apart from that there really is no industry here in Australia at the moment,” Anduril Australia Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Goodrich told ADM.
Neither does Australia have a domestic capability to produce SRM propellants in the quantities needed. Typically, that’s ammonium perchlorate blended with additives such as aluminium powder and a binder.
“That’s another piece of the supply chain that is not yet mature for Australia and we are very much in the process of looking at the potential players who could grow into full rate production with us,” said Dr Brielle Terry, Vice-President and General Manager of Anduril Rocket Motor Systems.
There’s more. A SRM also needs composites, nozzles and some electronics.
“Right now, there is not the industrial base to support a full rate SRM production within Australia but there is a path to get there in fairly quick order,” she said.
In mid-September, the government announced it would invest $22 million over the next three years to stand up a SRM production capability.
It has sought options from industry to establish a SRM manufacturing. Options close on December 4, with expectation of a plan to be announced in first or second quarter 2025.
Anduril Industries is a relative newcomer to defence industry. Founded in 2017 in the US, it seeks to apply Silicon Valley-type innovation, speed of acquisition and economies to defence technology procurement.
The company’s new SRM manufacturing plant in Mississippi is now set to reach full rate production in third quarter 2025.
Anduril’s expertise in SRM came from its acquisition of Dr Terry’s rocket company Adranos in June last year, investing US$70 million in its manufacturing capabilities.
In Australia, Anduril partnered with Defence to develop the Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous undersea vehicle, building an industrial base featuring 92 companies in just two years.
“As we move into SRM manufacturing endeavour we are going to use our skills at being able to build that Australian supply chain,” Goodrich said.
“We need to build a defence industrial base that can respond quickly and operate well past the first days and weeks of a conflict. Without high-rate production, in any peer conflict we are going to be out of weapons in a very short time.”
Anduril believes there would be space for just one Australian SRM manufacturer, but with multiple factories.
Dr Terry said a principal value proposition was how Anduril did things.
She said a typical SRM plant in the US – there are six in full rate production– featured batch manufacturing processes which were state of the art in the 1950s and 1960s.
“It is very hard to change those processes once they have been approved. Anduril RMS gives the rare opportunity to snap the line of what an SRM production plant looks like in the 2020s rather than in the 1950s,” she said.
Mr Goodrich said batch production required each step to be completed before moving to the next, leading to bottlenecks and under-use of production capacity.
“In batch production there are processes that need to be done sequentially because it is just too dangerous to have them going at the same time. This is inefficient, as you are closing down one process until another one is completed,” he explained.
He added that Anduril drew on auto industry experience, featuring automation and robotics with processes performed simultaneously.
“These modern approaches to propellant mixing and industrial robotics are driving massive gains with respect to efficiency and safety which translates to lower cost,” he explained.
Anduril is evaluating just where such a plant could be located in Australia. That could be a government facility such as Benalla or Mulwala, or a greenfield site.
It would still cost several hundred million dollars. Initial production would involve components sourced from the US.
“Our desire is to have a capability Australia that is independent as far as practically possible of global supply chain issues,” Goodrich said.
Even with seven US SRM plants at full rate production, demand by the US and allies still far exceeds production. So, there could be significant export opportunities for Australia.
“At Anduril we believe that Australia can be a leader in SRM manufacturing. This is not just a pipe dream. This can be a reality. The Australian government is taking exactly the right approach with the sovereign rocket motor program manufacturing RFI as one of the key and initial priorities of the GWEO enterprise,” Goodrich added.