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An sa国际传媒官网网页入口 defense contractor that is trying to disrupt the market for solid rocket motors scored a $12.2 million contract to supply a California drone maker. 

X-Bow Systems, which has a testing facility in Socorro, will sell thousands of solid rocket motors and launch cradles to AEVEX of Solana Beach, California. X-Bow said in a news release this month that its components allow 鈥渄rones to take off from unprepared surfaces and confined spaces, significantly expanding operational flexibility in modern conflict zones.鈥�

The company says the global market for military drones is 鈥減rojected to grow significantly鈥� with ongoing U.S and allied conflicts in several nations.

The contract is just one of $212 million worth of deals for X-Bow, which sees the demand for more versatile drones expanding as conflicts erupt globally. In March, X-Bow acquired to expand X-Bow鈥檚 production capacity and last year secured a $13.9 million contract with the U.S. Army to design, prototype and test an advanced solid rocket motor for a surface-to-surface missile.

CEO Jason Hundley, who founded X-Bow in 2016, declared X-Bow a disruptive new company in a market dominated by two entrenched incumbents, Northrop Grumman Corp. and L3Harris Technologies. The New Mexico State Investment Council is an in Crosslink Capital, a San Francisco venture capital firm that invested in X-Bow. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 more and more what we call new entrants that are coming into the area,鈥� Hundley said of the market for solid rocket motors. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e the main propulsion element on almost every missile that鈥檚 been fired in the last several years, so we鈥檝e entered鈥� a market of just unlimited demand and not a lot of new supply.鈥�

He added, 鈥淭he entrenched incumbents are having a hard time scaling their processes. And we鈥檙e coming into the market with a new manufacturing technique we think is much more scalable and efficient and affordable, and applying that across multiple programs.鈥�

Hundley said that if a series of anticipated new deals close, the company could be hiring more employees in New Mexico, its headquarters. Across operations, he said, X-Bow has some 400 employees, a few dozen of them based in New Mexico. 

The national labs, as well as incentives from state and local government, have also attracted defense contractors to New Mexico. In January, California-based Castelion Corp. broke ground on a 1,000-acre campus in Sandoval County to manufacture its long-range hypersonic missile, called Blackbeard.

Justin Horwath covers energy and tech for the Journal. He can be reached at jhorwath@abqjournal.com.