Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, was awarded a contract to produce motors to power Stinger missiles in support of U.S. stockpile replenishment. While the company has been manufacturing Stinger launch and flight motors for decades as a supplier to Raytheon, an RTX business, to support foreign military sales and an Army Service Life Extension Program (SLEP), this replenishment contract marks the first time in nearly 20 years new missiles will be produced for the U.S. military. The launch motor ejects the Stinger missile from its shoulder-launched tube or from a vehicle-mounted system. After the launch motor separates from the missile during the launch and once the missile is at a safe distance from the operator, the flight motor ignites, powering the missile to reach its target. Stinger is proven effective against fixed and rotary wing targets and with the inclusion of a proximity fuse, can also defeat small, autonomous targets.
“The work our Camden team does each day is critical, both for our allies and partners, and for our own national stockpiles. We look forward to providing Raytheon and the U.S. military with these reliable motors to power this next tranche of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles,” said Ross Niebergall, President, Aerojet Rocketdyne.
Stinger launch and flight motors have been manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne for more than 30 years. After producing more than 60,000 launch and flight motor sets at its Gainesville, Virginia site (now closed), production was moved to the Camden facility in 2007. Camden employees have produced approximately 9,000 flight motors and 2,000 launch motors in support of Raytheon Stinger production for U.S. foreign military sales customers and Army for SLEP, which extends the shelf life of current U.S. inventory by replacing key components as needed. Stinger launch and flight motors are produced at Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Camden, Arkansas, site, with support from its Huntsville, Alabama, and Orange County, Virginia, facilities. The Stinger missile first entered service in 1981 and today is deployed by both the Army and Marines, as well as U.S. allies and partners. The United States has provided Ukraine Stinger missiles to help the nation’s military defend Ukrainian cities from Russian air attacks.
Aerojet Rocketdyne is a subsidiary of American defense company L3Harris Technologies that manufactures rocket, hypersonic, and electric propulsive systems for space, defense, civil and commercial applications. Aerojet traces its origins to the General Tire and Rubber Company established in 1915, while Rocketdyne was created as a division of North American Aviation in 1955. Aerojet Rocketdyne was formed in 2013 when Aerojet (then owned by GenCorp) and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne were merged, following the latter’s acquisition by GenCorp from Pratt & Whitney. On April 27, 2015, the name of the holding company, GenCorp Inc., was changed to Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings was acquired by L3Harris in July 2023 for $4.7 billion.
