SBIR/STTR Research Award

X-BOW Advanced Manufacturing (3D printing) and Sustainment of Solid Rocket Motors

Award identifier e1957a379d0f06bd1d3fb5546b0195653efbb9ccfd7184b9c89183aa76387dccAwarding agency Department of Defense · Air Force

Award amount

$1,441,927

Program and phase

SBIR · Phase II – Direct to Phase II

Award year

2022

Explore This Research Award in CaptureIQ

Research the technology, evaluate the recipient and agency, identify related opportunities, and explore potential follow-on work with CaptureIQ.

Award details

Awarding agency
Department of Defense
Branch
Air Force
Recipient company
X-BOW LAUNCH SYSTEMS INC
Proposal award date
2022-03-08
Contract end date
2023-06-08
UEI
MD76AJXHCMQ5
Solicitation number
X21.1
Topic code
AF211-DCSO2

Research abstract

X-BOW had developed, built, tested and demonstrated additively manufactured solid rocket motors using direct-extrusion printing of a propellent slurry.  While the benefits of additive manufacturing solid rocket motors far outweigh the traditional “cast & pour” method, the science of buildability, repeatability, and quality are perpetually being studied.  X-BOW is extremely interested in teaming with AFRL’s Materials & Manufacturing Directorate to better understand additive manufacturing synergies, leverage additional support in their material science expertise, and ultimately provide the warfighter with a novel, low-cost, and tailorable solid rocket motor manufacturing process that will enable rapid and responsive launch capabilities—anywhere & anytime. X-BOW further believes it's additive manufacture of Solid Propellants (AMSP) will disrupt the overall rocket propellent market and create competition benefit USG and commercial space. There are only two (2) remaining major US manufacturers of solid rocket motors. The manufacturing processes used by these DoD Primes requires millions of square feet to house manufacturing equipment and store both equipment and product. This infrastructure comes with significant company overhead, which is reflected in the high cost of solids and SRMs.

Technology keywords

Not reported

Other awards by this recipient

Verified by the same UEI. These are other public SBIR/STTR award pages, not a merged company record.

Awards with the same topic code

Verified by an exact topic code match. This is not a text-similarity match.

Research funding history

5 SBIR/STTR records share this UEI (2018–2024). Reported award amounts total $19,581,398. Reported amounts are not federal obligations.

Phases: Phase II, Phase I, Phase II – Direct to Phase II

Agencies: Department of Defense

Contractor profile

X-BOW LAUNCH SYSTEMS INC

Historical federal award activity, when published, is on that contractor profile. Matched by UEI only.

Agency intelligence

Department of Defense

NAICS intelligence

This classification comes from the contractor profile, not from the SBIR award record.

Contractor industry classification NAICS 541512

Back to SBIR/STTR Research Awards

Don't take our word for it. Ask AI about RFPCapture.

See what leading AI assistants have to say about RFPCapture and CaptureIQ.

Gemini opens without a prefilled question. The question is copied to your clipboard when the button works. You can also copy it here:

What is RFPCapture.com and its CaptureIQ platform from Smart Logic AI? How does it help federal contractors discover opportunities, evaluate bid/no-bid decisions, research government contracts, and prepare proposals? How does it compare with other federal capture platforms? Use independent sources where available.