Ursa Major secures $10.9M through Air Force contract

BERTHOUD — The Air Force Research Laboratory has exercised a $10.9 million option on a contract with Ursa Major Technologies Inc. to continue development of Draper, the company’s storable liquid rocket engine built for hypersonic applications.

“Draper is at the heart of our hypersonics work, and AFRL and the United States Air Force have been partners from day one,” Jason Meredith, president of Ursa Major, said in a written statement. “This award keeps that work progressing, and it moves us closer to putting real capability in the hands of the warfighter.”

The exercised option comes after successful flights of the Affordable Rapid Missile Demonstrator as part of the same contract.

Ursa Major in August opened a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Longmont, where 125 employees will build avionics and in-space systems. The company also opened a 400-acre facility near the Weld County community of Galeton in March.

Ursa Major plans to go public in a $1.6 billion merger with a special-purpose acquisition company.

Ursa Major’s hypersonics portfolio includes the Hadley liquid rocket engine, which powers the DoW’s hypersonic test bed, the storable, tactical Draper Engine, which has flown with the Air Force Research Lab, and the HAVOC Missile System.

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