Exclusive: X-Bow and Lockheed collaborating amid $105 million raise
Lockheed Martin is fast-tracking X-Bow Systems as a new, independent supplier of solid-rocket motors and other services, the defense upstart's CEO, Jason Hundley, told Axios.
Why it matters: "The Lockheed Martin Corporation, I will say, is one of the largest producers and procurers of solid-rocket motors in Western civilization," he said in an interview.
Lockheed, also the world's largest defense contractor by revenue, "does not enter these agreements lightly, is what we understand," he added. "They get their choice of investments in these areas."
The latest: The arrangement coincides with the closure of X-Bow's Series B funding round at a little more than $105 million.
Investors include Razor's Edge Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Balerion Space Ventures and Capital Factory Ventures.
Lockheed Martin Ventures and Boeing Ventures were early backers, as well.
Between the lines: X-Bow (pronounced crossbow) is among a handful of fresh SRM competitors in the U.S. The cadre's breakout comes as pricey munitions are expended across the world and the Pentagon sweats industrial health back home.
State of play: X-Bow is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is building an energetics campus near Austin, Texas. It will open soon.
The company also offers a "rocket factory in a box" for distributed, on-demand production.
Its approximately 300 employees include SpaceX alumni.
Context: X-Bow has inked contracts across the military and, Hundley said, "all the services are ... experiencing the same pinch point at the same time."
"We've been focused on two factors for the last several years: scale and affordability," he said.
The company was previously tapped for work tied to the Army's Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon and the Navy's Conventional Prompt Strike.
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