Northrop Grumman successfully tests Mk 72 solid rocket motor for U.S. Navy

Northrop Grumman Corporation completed a successful static fire test of a prototype Mk 72 solid rocket motor (SRM) at its advanced propulsion production facility in Elkton, Maryland. This achievement highlights the company’s commitment to deliver proven solid rocket motors at scale today, investment in capacity to meet Department of War needs and innovate for tomorrow.

The Northrop Grumman Mk 72 focuses on meeting current performance requirements while improving manufacturability, lead time and cost efficiency. The company is pioneering processes and techniques to design and deliver new and second source rocket motors faster than ever, by leveraging low risk solutions and innovative qualification and production methodologies.

Northrop Grumman’s Mk 72 solid rocket motor solution:

• Proved the alignment of our digital twin and performance modeling technologies to real, measured motor performance through captured data in this U.S. Navy-funded static test.
• Addressed manufacturability, producibility, and supply chain resiliency challenges being experienced by other SRM suppliers through tailored trade studies.
• Established multiple sources for critical components, achieving supply chain resilience to ensure deliveries even as demand increases. 

“The successful Mk 72 static fire test is a testament to the proven solid rocket motor technologies Northrop Grumman has delivered for over seven decades,” says Gordon LoPresti, senior director of propulsion systems and controls at Northrop Grumman. “We rapidly developed this innovative Mk 72 solution that is tailorable to the U.S. Navy’s needs, is low-risk and can be produced at scale.”

As a leading provider in the propulsion industry, Northrop Grumman has already made substantial investments and continues to invest in state-of-the-art facilities, increased capacity, and advanced technologies to deliver effective weapons systems and solid rocket motors at an affordable scale. To meet the growing demand from customers, we are enhancing our capabilities for producing missile components, including solid rocket motors. With a legacy of over seventy years and the successful delivery of more than 1.3 million solid rocket motors, Northrop Grumman has become a trusted supplier of various sizes of solid rocket motors and advanced propulsion solutions that are crucial for deterring threats, delivering payloads, and supporting exploration in space.

Over the last seven years, Northrop Grumman has invested more than $1 billion in advanced manufacturing facilities across the U.S. to increase solid rocket motor and missile-component production. That includes tripling capacity for tactical SRMs at the company’s West Virginia production facility and, over the next five years, doubling production capacity at its large solid rocket motor facilities in Utah.