Ursa Major Innovation & Technology Culture

Ursa Major has unveiled its HAVOC Missile System, a hypersonic capability designed to deliver high-speed, affordable mass at scale to meet urgent warfighter requirements. HAVOC is engineered for rapid production and scalability, addressing the need for optionality in survivable, maneuverable hypersonic systems. The HAVOC Missile System is powered by Ursa Major’s Draper hypersonic liquid rocket engine; a safe, storable, and tactical liquid rocket engine.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Ursa Major recently executed a flight of the Affordable Rapid Missile Demonstrator (ARMD) powered by the Draper liquid rocket engine, achieving supersonic speeds and demonstrating concepts of operations. This flight is an innovative step in the advancement of capabilities that strengthen deterrence and provide rapid global strike options.

Ursa Major has completed a milestone phase of its manufacturing and scaling plan, marking a decisive step in the company’s transition from a propulsion-focused innovator to a prime contractor delivering affordable, advanced weapons systems at scale. With expanded machining and additive production capacity now online, a newly activated solid rocket motor test site, and investments in vehicle integration and assembly, Ursa Major is scaling production to meet urgent national defense demand.

Ursa Major’s latest variant of the flight-proven, production rate Hadley liquid rocket engine, H13, has successfully completed its first hot fires, following a series of design improvements and updated manufacturing processes. Hadley H13 is the mission-upgraded variant of Ursa Major’s Hadley H11 engine, which is flight proven and designed for hypersonic applications. H13 increases engine reusability and improves overall engine performance compared to previous Hadley variants and is intentionally designed to fly in a variety of hypersonic and launch applications. The engine uses new materials to improve performance and increase engine life. By in-sourcing major components of the H13 engine, Ursa Major strategically implements vertical integration of additively manufactured parts, which ensures cost efficiency and streamlined manufacturing.

Ursa Major recently completed several successful live fire flight tests of a small diameter, tactical solid rocket motor using highly loaded grain. This internally funded test campaign comes after more than 20 static fires of the motor, burning down program risk and saving taxpayer dollars. These motors extend range and enhance performance, keeping the warfighter further out of harm’s way. Warfighters need reliable, high-performance solid rocket motors that can be delivered quickly and at scale.  In the last two years, Ursa Major has invested more than $40M into SRM production to deliver exactly that.