L3Harris subsidiary Aerojet Rocketdyne has been awarded a contract to produce flight motors for FIM-92 Stinger missiles in support of the US Army’s replenishment efforts.
The deal marks the first time in 20 years that the company will manufacture new missiles for the US military.
Rocketdyne has been supplying Stinger components to Raytheon for decades, supporting foreign military sales as well as the Army Service Life Extension Program.
The motors will be produced at Rocketdyne’s Camden, Arkansas site, which has manufactured around 9,000 flight motors and 2,000 launch motors since its launch in 2007.
Further support for the program will come from its Huntsville, Alabama, and Orange County, Virginia, sites.
“We look forward to providing Raytheon and the US military with these reliable motors to power this next tranche of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles,” Aerojet Rocketdyne president Ross Niebergall said.
Stinger Solutions
First brought into service in 1981, the FIM-92 Stinger is a man-portable air defense system still used on the battlefield.
Washington committed to supplying Ukraine with 1,400 units in 2022, and shortly after awarded Raytheon a $624-million contract to replenish its inventory with 1,300 new missiles.
Prior to the commitment, Raytheon had not produced the missile in 18 years.
The US Army Applications Laboratory also circumvented supply chain issues for the program by signing a deal with Firehawk Aerospace to design, test, and fly its motors.