Solid-fuel rockets are used in a wide variety of military applications, from decoy launchers, to anti-tank rockets, to aerial missiles and rockets, to nuclear ICBMs. Not to mention the potential civilian uses. Improvements to the state of the art can have a wide range of benefits. Alliant Techsystems (ATK) Tactical Propulsion and Controls’ Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in Rocket Center, WVA won a $9.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, covering research and development efforts for solid rocket propulsion technology.
This contract was competitively procured via a Broad Agency Announcement; 2 offers were received by the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at China Lake, CA (N68936-09-C-0032). Work will be performed in Keyser, WVA (54%) and China Lake, CA (46%), and is expected to be complete in September 2013. ATK’s Rocket Center facility is part of their Mission Systems group, which handles tactical missiles and projectiles, and NAWCWD’s involvement strongly suggests that this will be the focus.