Pull to refresh
Logo
Daily Brief
Following Why Ranks Sign Up
A rocket-motor factory rises in rural Florida—and the U.S. is racing to unchoke missile production

A rocket-motor factory rises in rural Florida—and the U.S. is racing to unchoke missile production

Built World

Parsons' $100M+ task order for Nammo in Perry is one brick in a bigger rearmament build-out.

December 19th, 2025: Parsons wins $100M+ task order for Perry rocket-motor facility build

Overview

Parsons just landed a task order worth more than $100 million to help Nammo design and manage construction of a new rocket-motor manufacturing facility in Perry, Florida. That sounds like a normal contract win—until you remember rocket motors are one of the parts the U.S. keeps running short of when wars drag on.

The hook isn't Florida—it's the bottleneck. This Perry build-out is a strategic asset: one more domestic line that feeds Raytheon and other missile primes and turns "we need more missiles" from a budget line into physical capacity. That's why Perry matters: it expands and diversifies rocket motor supply.

Questions about this story

No questions yet — be the first to ask.

Play on this story Voices Debate Who Said What? Predict

Key Indicators

$100M+
Parsons task order value
Design plus program/construction management for Nammo’s new Perry rocket-motor facility.
2 years
Construction period cited for Parsons’ scope
The award frames execution around a two-year construction window.
$130M
Reported size of Nammo’s Perry expansion
Local reporting pegged the build-out as a $130 million expansion with multiple new buildings.
2027
Target year for the expanded Perry rocket-motor capability
Nammo/Raytheon-linked reporting points to a 2027 opening/operational target.
$215.6M
DPA Title III propulsion capacity boost (baseline comparator)
A major federal cooperative agreement used to modernize and expand U.S. rocket-motor capacity.
$75M
New-entrant SRM plant investment (Anduril)
A sign the U.S. is trying to break legacy dependence by adding new suppliers.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

Ever wondered what historical figures would say about today's headlines?

Sign up to generate historical perspectives on this story.

Log in Sign Up

Play

Exploring all sides of a story is often best achieved with Play.

Log in to play. Track your picks, climb the leaderboards. Log in Sign Up
Predict 4 ways this could play out. Contrarian picks score more — points lock when the scenario resolves. Log in to play
Timeline Five events from this story — drag them oldest to newest. Log in to play
Connections Sixteen names from the news. Find the four hidden groups of four. Log in to play

People Involved

Jon Moretta
Jon Moretta
Publicly leading Parsons’ industrial-base modernization push tied to the Perry build.
 Morten Brandtzæg
Morten Brandtzæg
Driving Nammo’s U.S. expansion as a supplier of rocket motors and energetics.
 Phil Jasper
Phil Jasper
Positioning Raytheon to lock in propulsion supply as missile demand rises.
 Barbara Borgonovi
Barbara Borgonovi
Overseeing efforts to dual-source motors for naval missile demand.
 Jason Hundley
Jason Hundley
Leading a DoD-backed attempt to add new SRM manufacturing methods and capacity.

Organizations Involved

Parsons Corporation
Parsons Corporation
Defense and infrastructure contractor
Prime designer and construction/program manager for Nammo’s new Perry rocket-motor facility.

Parsons is acting as the “speed layer” turning demand for rocket motors into buildable factory capacity.
Nammo AS
Nammo AS
Aerospace and defense manufacturer
Factory owner/operator expanding U.S. rocket-motor manufacturing footprint via Perry, Florida.

Nammo is betting that U.S. demand for solid rocket motors will stay high long enough to justify new capacity.
Nammo Perry Inc.
Nammo Perry Inc.
U.S. manufacturing site
Existing munitions/pyrotechnics site being expanded into rocket-motor manufacturing.

A rural Florida site becoming a strategic node in the U.S. rocket-motor supply chain.
Raytheon (RTX)
Raytheon (RTX)
Defense prime contractor
Demand driver and supply-chain architect seeking additional SRM sources and dual-sourcing options.

Raytheon is pushing to diversify rocket-motor suppliers so missile production can scale without hitting a wall.
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy (MCEIP)
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy (MCEIP)
U.S. Department of Defense office
Federal funding engine using DPA/industrial programs to expand propulsion and energetics capacity.

The Pentagon’s industrial-growth shop—writing checks and setting priorities to add surge capacity fast.

Timeline

April 2023 December 2025

10 events Latest: December 19th, 2025 · 7 months ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. Parsons wins $100M+ task order for Perry rocket-motor facility build

    Latest Contract

    Parsons disclosed a task order exceeding $100M from Nammo for design and construction/program management of the Perry facility.

  2. L3Harris doubles down with a major Arkansas expansion

    Capacity Expansion

    Reuters reported L3Harris planned a $400M investment to expand solid rocket motor production capacity in Camden, Arkansas.

  3. Nammo breaks ground in Perry

    Construction

    Reporting said Nammo held a groundbreaking for a new rocket-motor factory in Perry, targeting operations by end of 2027.

  4. Local reporting sizes Perry’s build-out and stakes

    Local Impact

    Florida Trend described a $130M Nammo expansion in Perry, including a rocket-motor production plant and multiple new buildings.

  5. A new U.S. SRM supplier breaks the duopoly

    Market Shift

    Reuters reported Anduril opened an SRM facility in Mississippi, becoming a third U.S. SRM supplier amid surging demand.

  6. Raytheon dual-sources early work on a key rocket motor

    Procurement

    Raytheon awarded Nammo and Northrop Grumman contracts for initial MK72 solid rocket motor development work.

  7. Lockheed and General Dynamics move to make their own motors

    Supply Chain

    Reuters reported a partnership to produce solid rocket motors for GMLRS, reflecting pressure to diversify beyond incumbents.

  8. Nammo and Raytheon signal a new U.S. rocket-motor source

    Partnership

    Reporting tied Nammo’s Perry expansion to Raytheon demand, positioning Perry as an independent domestic SRM source with a 2027 target.

  9. DoD backs a new SRM supplier path for hypersonics

    Industrial Policy

    DoD announced a $64M award to X-Bow to expand SRM capacity and lower costs for hypersonic-class motors.

  10. Pentagon funds a major rocket-motor capacity build

    Industrial Policy

    Aerojet Rocketdyne entered a $215.6M cooperative agreement to modernize and expand solid rocket motor manufacturing for key missile programs.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

1940-1945

World War II’s “Arsenal of Democracy” Factory Sprint

The U.S. converted civilian industry and rapidly built capacity to produce ships, aircraft, vehicles, and munitions at a scale that overwhelmed adversaries. Success depended less on single wonder-weapons and more on repeatable production, standardized parts, and relentless throughput.

Then

U.S. and allied forces gained decisive logistical and production advantage.

Now

Industrial mobilization became a lasting model for surge manufacturing in crises.

Why this matters now

Perry fits the same logic: the constraint isn’t ideas—it’s factories and throughput.

1991-2015

Post–Cold War Drawdown and the “Atrophy Trap” in Munitions Capacity

After the Cold War, demand signals weakened, production lines consolidated, and surge capacity thinned. Specialized suppliers became fewer, and “single points of failure” crept into critical components that looked mundane—until they were needed fast.

Then

Lower costs and fewer redundant lines, but less resilience.

Now

A fragile industrial base that struggled to surge when new conflicts erupted.

Why this matters now

The rush to expand rocket-motor capacity is partly a reversal of that long consolidation.

1950-1965

The 1950s Missile Age: Building a New Propulsion Industry From Scratch

Early Cold War missile programs forced rapid advances in propulsion manufacturing, test infrastructure, and safety disciplines for energetic materials. Programs learned—often painfully—that propulsion supply chains are slow to create and easy to bottleneck.

Then

A fast build-out of propulsion know-how and industrial capability.

Now

A mature missile-industrial base that later consolidated into fewer suppliers.

Why this matters now

Today’s expansion wave echoes the same lesson: propulsion capacity is strategic and slow-moving.

Sources

(10)
+4
GlobeNewswire (Parsons press release) Benzinga Florida Trend Reuters RTX (Raytheon news release) U.S. Department of Defense (Industrial Base Policy) L3Harris / Aerojet Rocketdyne (press release archive) Defence Industry Europe Reuters Reuters