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Swedish defense firm Saab has tapped American defense firm Anduril Rocket Motor Systems to develop and manufacture SRMs for its Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB).

Officials from both companies described the partnership as a significant milestone in efforts to revitalize and expand the United States’ domestic rocket motor supply chain, which has only two major providers, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris Technologies

The decision comes at a time when the U.S. defense industrial base is under pressure to dramatically scale up munitions production to meet escalating global demands, most urgently to replenish weapons sent to Ukraine and prepare for future contingencies.

Anduril in the SRM market

Anduril’s selection positions the fast-growing company to become the third major SRM supplier in the U.S., a move that reflects broader calls within the Pentagon and Congress for more competition in the sector.

“We believe and have conviction that in the solid rocket motor business in our nation, we need to have more competition,” said Neil Thurgood, Anduril’s senior vice president overseeing the company’s air and ground deterrence division. “Anduril intends to be the third solid rocket motor provider for our nation.”

Anduril entered the SRM business last year with the acquisition of an existing manufacturer and quickly followed up with a $75 million investment to build a new SRM production facility on a 450-acre site in McHenry, Mississippi.

The company aims to eventually produce approximately 6,000 solid rocket motors annually, with the capacity to ramp up quickly once initial certifications are completed. “Roughly 100 days following an initial certification process, Anduril can move into full-rate production,” Thurgood said.

A strategic partnership

For Saab, the new collaboration reflects both an operational need and a broader strategic vision. Saab’s U.S. subsidiary, Saab Inc., has been working to deepen its manufacturing footprint in the country, and the GLSDB program is central to those efforts.

“This is one of the areas that is exciting for us, which is building these strategic partners in the U.S., which is going to complement our broader capacity and capability growth strategy,” said Brad Barnard, vice president and general manager of land systems for Saab Inc.

Saab and Boeing originally partnered in 2014 to develop the GLSDB, a cost-effective, long-range precision munition that uses the Small Diameter Bomb paired with a rocket motor to enable 360-degree targeting capability. The system demonstrated its capability in 2019 and was awarded a U.S. Air Force contract in 2023 to support U.S. European Command operations.

Moving away from dated systems

One of the primary drivers for the new partnership was the obsolescence of the government-furnished M26 MLRS solid rocket motor, which is no longer in production. Saab and Boeing initiated a roadmap to identify a new SRM partner capable of delivering a future-proof solution for the GLSDB.

“They really distinguished themselves through the process by leaning forward with the appropriate technical solution, leaning forward with their timeline for delivery,” Barnard said of Anduril.

The timeline is ambitious. Once the exact propellant formulation for the GLSDB is finalized, the team plans to enter a testing and qualification phase before transitioning into full-rate production by 2026. A full system-level test is tentatively scheduled for the second or third quarter of next year.

Advanced manufacturing and innovation

Anduril is aiming to disrupt traditional SRM manufacturing with a series of innovative approaches, including single-piece-flow production and the use of bladeless high-speed mixers and automation to enhance both speed and quality.

“When you make a new solid rocket motor, some people believe you can just take the recipe from someone else and remake it in another kitchen,” Thurgood explained. “It’s not really quite that easy.”

To address these challenges, Anduril is working to refine propellant formulations for different munition sizes. The company’s current pipeline includes rocket motors for 4.75-inch rockets used by the U.S. Army, hypersonic motors for the U.S. Navy’s STANDARD missile program, and now the GLSDB.

Moreover, Anduril’s facility in Mississippi has been designed with flexibility in mind. According to Thurgood, “The production facility is built in a modular way so that any given day we can make different motors down the same production line, same process,” offering a sharp departure from more rigid, traditional methods.

Strengthening the US industrial base

This partnership also dovetails with broader national efforts to bolster the resilience and responsiveness of the U.S. defense industrial base. The Pentagon has repeatedly warned that current production capacity is insufficient to meet simultaneous peacetime and wartime demands. As a result, expanding domestic manufacturing, especially in strategic bottlenecks like SRMs, has become a policy imperative.

Saab, for its part, is constructing a new production facility in Grayling, Michigan, where it plans to manufacture the GLSDB entirely within the U.S. “We’re about a year away from rolling first systems off the line there,” Barnard confirmed.

Anduril’s involvement may also help draw new sub-tier suppliers into the sector, bringing both innovation and additional capacity. The company’s approach to affordability and safety could redefine industry standards and push legacy players to modernize their own processes.

“We’re super excited to be a partner with Saab on this. We believe we’re in a really good position to scale quickly with the factory and the innovation that we use in the factories,” Thurgood said.

The Saab-Anduril partnership represents a bold step forward in both technological innovation and industrial strategy. As the U.S. defense establishment looks to prepare for future challenges while addressing immediate needs in Ukraine and elsewhere, collaborations like this one are poised to play a vital role in ensuring that America’s munitions pipeline is both resilient and cutting-edge.